Danny Meyer: Summary

This is a very interesting book not only for restaurant managers but for any business owner as it will give you ideas on which techniques to implement in your business in order to properly manage it and succeed at it. Meyer presents principles that are very good and it has indeed helped him succeed. He does not only concentrate in making revenue, but also and very important, his staff. The fact that his staff was to deliver hospitality not service was crucial to Danny Meyer. In his early years he saw how his father opened and managed different types of business and failed because of his gambling ways to do business. Therefore, he was in deep fear of doing the same thing. Contrary to his father Danny truly believes being surrounded by talented …show more content…
When his first restaurant deal concluded in 1985, he conducted staff interviews and was searching for personal styles that were compatible to his. While his brain was searching for people with restaurant styles; his heart on the other hand was searching for staff to create and cultivate a restaurant family. His ways of looking for the right staff according to personalities has tremendously helped him succeed. As a business owner/manager it is imperative to have the right staff working for you in order to deliver excellent hospitality. Moreover, on the job application on the hunt for staff, one of the questions was. “How has your sense of humor being helpful for you in your service career”. And with the answers received he could see somewhat the kind of candidate. In addition, Meyer had his staff always in mind on how to make them stay with him. When making revenue he not only thought of it as his benefit, but the more revenue, the more tips it represented to his servers. In addition to staff managerial skills, he believed in playing offense and defense at times in order to enhance good experiences by guest(s) and overcoming the frequent mistakes that were made. He also implied a reward system to reward those guest(s) that waited long for their meal; this is a very good tactic that might work with some guest(s) but not others. However, it is still a good way to reward them for their patience. Mr. Meyer believed to the T in excellent hospitality so he …show more content…
He implemented the 49 percent of technical job and 51 percent of emotional which means. 49 percent of tasks and 51 percent of feelings towards the guest(s). Anyone can be trained to do the job; but it’s nearly impossible to train for emotional skills. “A strong work ethic is an indispensable emotional skill for any employee who is going to contribute to the existence of our business.” In my short experience working at the port of Miami as a check in agent for Carnival Cruise Lines, I can tell you that I agree with Meyer’s philosophies of happy people working for him and that service is not the same as hospitality. You must love what you do, you must have that empathy and personality to help others and making them feel you are on their side. As a guest at a restaurant I can say that everyone likes to be treated with courtesy, respect and for the staff to be knowledgeable. Now, if I was to run a business I will imply all the techniques he describes on setting the table since I believe they are tremendously important to the success of the business. Not only he concentrated on his staff, but also was interacting with every aspect of the restaurant. And, that’s what a business manager does in order to maintain the business operation run smooth and generate maximum revenue. The RM book does reflect to the DM book. Creating environments that