Quotes from Danny Meyer

I just think the best way for me to be greedy is long-term greedy.

In an age when so many groups are rolling out restaurants faster than your local baker makes donuts, my goal is that each restaurant feels hand-crafted. That they have their own soul.

A cocktail done right can really show your guests that you care.

My staff's job is to adjust to circumstances with technical precision and artful grace so that every patron has a wonderful experience.

The most important thing you can do is make the distinction between customer service and guest hospitality. You need both things to thrive, but they are completely different.

Life is a series of waves to be embraced and overcome.

People who have come to appreciate well-sourced and well-cooked food refuse to pay too much for food that they wouldn't want to pay anything for.

Hospitality knows no gender or race.

How can you franchise hospitality?

Use your time well. Everyone gets time equally. It doesn't matter how much money you make.

If you develop a dialogue with me and take an interest in me, I'll want to give you the business. It's human nature.

One great worker equals three not-so-great workers, so it's worth paying terrific people not just for today but to find people that we think have upward mobility to become tomorrow's leaders.

It's always imperative to improve and to remain dynamic - or you'll become lunch, as opposed to serving it.

Be aware of textural elements throughout a party, like silverware, stemware, and linens. But the biggest element is metaphorical: it's your own touch. How are you making people feel?

I grew up in a reform Jewish family in St. Louis. Our idea of Judaism was no bar mitzvahs and a Christmas tree that had a skirt at the bottom embroidered with the names of my grandparents.

Restaurants and chefs have become followed by such a broad swath of the public, in a way that used to be reserved for sports stars, movie stars, and theater actors. Restaurants are in the firmament of today's common culture.

I never get sick on airplanes, which is incredible. You're basically in a flying petri dish.

Hospitality exists when you believe that the other person is on your side.

Restaurants are like kids. You hope you understand their innate gifts, and then you let them realize their aspirations.

I think that any business that thinks that the transaction is 'you give me money and I give you food, next, you give me money and I give you food, next,' without understanding that people deeply want to feel restored is in danger.

At my restaurants, we have training drills before every meal. We talk about what we did yesterday that was great and what we can improve today.

Essentially what's going to determine how you succeed in New York is how people feel about the space, how delicious the food is, how they perceive the value and, most important of all, how they feel treated. My understanding is Stephen Starr is exceptionally good at all of this and his ability to create a transporting experience.

I trust that McDonald's can find a way to sell all-natural chicken without raising their prices; we did that at Shake Shack. It is more expensive, and we took a slight margin hit, but we did it. And if we can do it, I know that much bigger companies can.

When chefs like Wolfgang Puck became household names, that became a compelling reason for an intelligent young person to go into the cooking profession. There have been no waiters who have turned into household names. The service and hospitality aspects have clearly lagged behind the kitchen.