Quotes from Danny Meyer

One of the things that may get lost among all the hubbub when a company is 'going public' is that the business can now be owned, in part, by its greatest fans.

I throw 14 parties a week.

During one of his uncannily well-timed impromptu visits to my restaurant, Union Square Cafe, Pat Cetta taught me how to manage people. Pat was the owner of a storied New York City steakhouse called Sparks, and by that time, he was an old pro at running a fine restaurant.

Good service means never having to ask for anything.

You cannot open a major New York restaurant today and not be aware that showbiz will play a role.

My favorite place is whichever sidewalk is beneath my feet because I am just constantly fascinated by walking and looking and learning. If I've already walked a street five times, then the next five times I walk it looking up, and I learn something about the cornices.

It is sad that the more 'successful' a neighborhood becomes, the more it gradually takes on a recognizable, common look, as the same banks, drugstore chains and national brands move in.

The part of capitalism that doesn't work for me is when capitalists make decisions in the way that Adam Smith suggested, which is that as long as you do everything in the interest of the investor, you're going to actually make the best decisions for all other stakeholders. I don't happen to agree with that.

Shake Shack started off as a summer hot dog cart in Madison Square Park. It was not meant to be a company - it was completely accidental. It started off as an expression of community building.

The excellence reflex is a natural reaction to fix something that isn't right, or to improve something that could be better. The excellence reflex is rooted in instinct and upbringing, and then constantly honed through awareness, caring and practice. The overarching concern to do the right thing well is something we can't train for. Either it's there or it isn't.

Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It's that simple, and it's that hard.

Make new mistakes every day. Don't waste time repeating the old ones.

In the end, what's most meaningful is creating positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It's that simple, and it's that hard.

Her recipe for the perfect waitress was, "two parts Walter Cronkite to one part Mae West, carefully blended with a cup of Mikhail Baryshnikov and a liberal sprinkling of Mother Teresa.

I have always felt that solo guests pay us the ultimate compliment by joining us for a meal. Their visit has no ulterior motive (it involves no business, romance, or socializing). These guests simply want to do something nice for themselves, chez nous. Why wouldn't we reward that?

The only way a company can grow, stay true to its soul, and remain consistently successful is to attract, hire, and keep great people.

For judges of character, there is no such thing as the color gray.

Policies are nothing more than guidelines to be broken for the benefit of our guests. We're here to give the guests what they want, period.

hospitality … is the sum of all the thoughtful, caring, gracious things out staff does to make you feel we are on your side when you are dining with us.

Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It

Every business needs a core strategy to be what I call always on the improve , for us it's constant, gentle pressure.

Change works only when people believe it is happening for them, not to them.

But the worst mistake is not to figure out some way to end up in a better place after having made a mistake. We call that 'writing a great last chapter.

Why do we care for our stakeholders in this particular order? The interests of our own employees must be placed directly ahead of those of our guests because the only way we can consistently earn raves, win repeat business, and develop bonds of loyalty with our guests is first to ensure that our own team members feel jazzed about coming to work. Being jazzed is a combination of feeling motivated, enthusiastic, confident, proud, and at peace with the choice to work on our team.