October 01, 2014
What to Read
Sherry Marek
What's On the Bookshelf
Over the years, we’ve had numerous conversations with industry leaders and often one of the topics that we discuss is the latest book read. We thought it would be fun to share some of these booklover conversations with our readers. Here are what our industry leaders are reading.
Setting the Table, By Danny Meyer
[Review by Sherry Marek, co-founder & VP, Datavision Technologies, Inc.]
Selected for the Datavision book club, this book gave our team some insights on stories from the food & beverage side of our business as well as general customer service concepts, anecdotes and business advice.
Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality, started with one restaurant and has expanded with different unique dining experiences in New York City. His job application form included questions like, “How has your sense of humor been useful to you in your service career?”and “Do you prefer Hellmann’s or Miracle Whip?” He was interested in building a team who had fun and would enjoy building a restaurant family.
Meyer was approached by many groups for new concepts and preferred to grow carefully, keeping core values in place instead of growing quickly.
Meyer outlined stakeholder groups in his business success, his team members are focused on the work, supportive of each other and enjoy each other’s company. Since we each spend about one-third of our lives at work, he hopes that the restaurant family is truly a supportive environment to all members as this translates itself into the service provided to the customers. The golden rule is to treat others as you wish to be treated. It starts with the reservationist. Are they a gatekeeper or an agent? An agent makes things happen for others.
Meyer's restaurants help the local neighborhoods in different ways. Some nights, dinners are prepared for a hospice unit. The restaurants match money for charity bike rides, walks or other events. Meyer looks for enlightened companies whose teams are passionate about their service. By taking the right kind of investors, it gave his business fuel to grow over time. These investors share the core values and add advise, wisdom, contacts and influence.
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