What Happens Behind Your Back at The World’s #1 Restaurant

A story from the world’s top-ranked restaurant…

Managers at Eleven Madison Park knew their guests hate to wait. Time stands still at restaurants, especially when you first sit down or after you finish eating.

So managers devised a system to speed up water service. It works like this…

The host seats the guests at their table, and the “captain” immediately asks what kind of water they’d like — iced, bottled still, bottled sparkling.

Then, instead of finding the table’s server and relaying the order (the old, slow way), the captain uses behind-the-back hand signals to transmit the order across the room.

Moments later — often while the captain is still conversing with the guests — the water arrives.

Guests don’t notice the elaborate system at play — just as they don’t notice the systems that control the room’s lighting, the music (different types of music depending on how crowded the room is), or the traffic patterns for staff to move around the room (convey order, not chaos).

Will Guidara was Eleven Madison Park’s general manager as the restaurant developed and implemented these systems. He wrote a book about the restaurant’s journey from 2-star brasserie to the world’s best.

In his book, Unreasonable Hospitality, Guidara says, “These subtleties were hidden from the guests, but every single one of them contributed to the overall feeling of comfort and serenity that people enjoyed when they were dining with us.”

The most important word here: FEELING.

I know, you don’t run a fancy restaurant.

But dismiss this hospitality tale at your own peril.

Because the way you make your customers FEEL can mean the difference between business success and failure.

That’s why Ted Prodromou and I chose Unreasonable Hospitality as this month’s selection for the Mastermind Book Club.

Each month, we choose a great book for Club members to read and discuss.

We meet — live on Zoom — on the fourth Thursday to discuss how we can apply the book’s lessons to make our businesses better.

You’re invited to join us. Club membership (and the meetings) are free.

When: Thursday, February 26, 2:30 p.m. ET

Where: Live on Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88660265350?pwd=RzwGBSzYTM2WbJk3jM3D2OxcieWIbS.1

What: Discuss Unreasonable Hospitality and how to apply its lessons to elevate our businesses.