Unreasonable Hospitality

Praise is affirmation, but criticism is investment.

Will Guidara in Unreasonable Hospitality

your energy impact the people you’re talking to, as opposed to the other way around.

Will Guidara in Unreasonable Hospitality

Where do the highest-paid people in the company work? In the restaurants themselves, or in the corporate offices? That says a lot about how the company is run. In restaurant-smart companies, members of the team have more autonomy and creative latitude. Because they tend to feel a greater sense of ownership, they give more of themselves to the job. They can often offer better hospitality because they’re nimble; there aren’t a lot of rules and systems getting in the way of human connection. But those restaurants tend not to have a lot of corporate support or oversight—the systems that make great businesses. Corporate-smart companies, on the other hand, have all the back-end systems and controls in areas like accounting, purchasing, and human resources that are needed to make them great businesses, and they’re often more profitable as a result. But systems are, by definition, controls—and the more control you take away from the people on the ground, the less creative they can be, and guests can feel that. Restaurant-smart companies can be great businesses, and corporate-smart companies can deliver great hospitality. But their priorities are different, in ways that fundamentally affect the guests’ experience.

Will Guidara in Unreasonable Hospitality

have since come to realize that a “cult” is what people who work for companies that haven’t invested enough in their cultures tend to call the companies that have.

Will Guidara in Unreasonable Hospitality

This is what I would later call the Rule of 95/5: Manage 95 percent of your business down to the penny; spend the last 5 percent “foolishly.” It sounds irresponsible; in fact, it’s anything but. Because that last 5 percent has an outsize impact on the guest experience, it’s some of the smartest money you’ll ever spend.

Will Guidara in Unreasonable Hospitality

We weren’t stealing his creativity; we were returning him to it.

Will Guidara in Unreasonable Hospitality