I know Roy Kelley reads a lot of fiction books and I know I cannot keep up reading at the rate he does with all those amazing book recommendations. I tried keeping a list for a while, but it just kept getting longer and longer on top of the writers I liked reading myself.
Anyway, I am not sure where I heard about this book Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. I think it was on a podcast or webinar, but I know I wrote it down and then requested it from my local library. Will, the author, is a restauranter who ran Eleven Madison Park the chef Daniel Humm has been there for 20 years now and the restaurant was originally part of the Danny Meyer empire Union Square Hospitality Group in New York city, that included Grammercy Tavern, The Modern and a host of others and he even founded Shake Shack. Will the author helped manage the restaurant alongside Daniel Humm the chef both of whom had been brought in to raise the standards.
The book is about what they did to achieve that and the challenges they faced like the 2008 crash for example and how they achieved four stars from the New York Times. It is an easy read, but the ideas can be applied to real estate, he even mentions how some of these ideas apply to real estate and other businesses as well in the book.
I think it is a good read and worthwhile to see how you can bring something into your dealing with clients that will blow them away and make them remember, refer and come back to you.
The book is filled with stories and examples including how to manage and hire people. Take for example how they made a new hire in charge of beer service, purchase and storage in the restaurant and how he shaped that stepping up to the responsibility even though the restaurant still had him as a runner to tables. Quite fascinating.
Give it a read and see what you can take away from it. If you have read it, comment below on any ideas it gave you and how it changed what you do.
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