Setting the Table

Restaurateur Danny Meyer opened Union Square Cafe in New York City in October 1985, at age twenty-seven, with a good idea and little experience, and went on to run a restaurant organization of eleven dining establishments. Here he lays out the philosophy he calls enlightened hospitality, which applies hospitality first to employees, then to guests, the community, suppliers and, last, investors. Meyer sees that ordering, which turns traditional business models upside down, as the basis of his restaurants' success. Other ideas include the idea that hospitality is present when something happens for a guest and missing when something happens to one, context mattering more than location, and erring toward generosity. The lessons come with behind-the-scenes history of his restaurants.

Ramit Sethi included it in his list of 50 books he recommends, and Sumo founder Noah Kagan put it among the 18 books that changed his life.