Book SummaryUnreasonable Hospitality, by Will Guidara

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Unreasonable Hospitality

In Unreasonable Hospitality, hospitality guru Will Guidara details how he transformed Eleven Madison Park from a so-so brasserie in the middle of Manhattan into the World’s Best Restaurant in 2017. Guidara contends that the secret to the restaurant’s success was his commitment to providing “unreasonable hospitality”—a level of dedication to providing guests with a fantastic experience that stretched the limits of what seemed sensible. Guidara believes that anyone with a service-based business should also commit to providing unreasonable hospitality—both to...

Unreasonable Hospitality Summary Guidara’s Journey to Eleven Madison Park

Guidara’s interest in restaurants was influenced by his father, who worked in the industry. This interest was bolstered by a fantastic experience in a restaurant on Guidara’s 12th birthday. He graduated from the restaurant management program at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and spent years working at several restaurants before accepting the position at EMP. In this section, we’ll discuss the lessons Guidara learned from these experiences.

(Shortform note: Guidara’s father knew that his son could be successful in the restaurant industry due to his own experience: The senior Guidara was the president of the dining management company Restaurant Associates (RA) before spending several years as the CEO of restaurant chains like Au Bon Pain and Pizzeria Uno. And by 2013, dining room jobs were in demand among Ivy League graduates (like those from Cornell), who could make up to $150,000 annually at restaurants like EMP.)

Lesson 1: Hospitality Matters

Thanks to a class he was taking at Cornell, Guidara made a connection with famed chef Daniel Boulud...

Unreasonable Hospitality Summary How Guidara Turned EMP Into a Three-Star Restaurant

Guidara joined EMP in 2006 to help Meyer transform the casual brasserie into a three-star fine-dining restaurant worthy of its spectacular location—and by 2007, Guidara achieved that goal. In this section, we’ll detail what Guidara did to transform EMP into a well-regarded three-star restaurant.

Lesson 1: Clarify and Communicate Your Priorities

When Guidara joined EMP, the restaurant was suffering from poor relationships and erratic levels of service. In an effort to transform the brasserie into a three-star restaurant, Meyer had brought on several service professionals who’d trained in fine-dining restaurants and so brought with them a set of expectations regarding how a fine-dining restaurant is run. The original EMP staff bristled at these expectations, which were both new and confusing given that different managers had different standards for the same thing. For example, one server was made to hold a tray in two different ways by two different managers.

(Shortform note: Guidara’s description of how the EMP team functioned when he arrived reflects what The Five Dysfunctions of a Team author Patrick...

Unreasonable Hospitality Summary How Guidara Turned EMP Into a Four-Star Restaurant

Guidara wasn’t content with turning EMP into a three-star restaurant. He, along with Humm, had a larger mission: They wanted to transform the fine-dining landscape into something more modern and inclusive. To do that, they needed to become a four-star restaurant, as this was the barrier to entry: Four-star restaurants are fine-dining restaurants, but three-star restaurants are not. Humm and Guidara achieved that dream in 2009, but they faced several challenges along the way. In this section, we’ll describe the lessons Guidara extracts from overcoming those challenges.

(Shortform note: Humm and Guidara’s relentless chasing of more stars worked out well for them, but this isn’t always the case. Many chefs grow so obsessed with receiving stars from various rating establishments that it damages their restaurants and their mental health, and some have even “given back” stars because the pressure to maintain their rating was overwhelming.)

Lesson 1: Re-evaluate Your Policies

Some of Guidara’s successes at EMP stemmed from his willingness to push back against long-standing policies. For example, all of...

Unreasonable Hospitality Summary How Guidara Turned EMP Into the World’s Best Restaurant

In 2010—one year after EMP earned its fourth star—the restaurant was nominated for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Guidara and Humm were initially thrilled…but then mortified at the awards ceremony when they discovered that they had only received 50th place. This embarrassment prompted Guidara to commit to making EMP the world’s best restaurant by cultivating a culture of “unreasonable hospitality”—a commitment that ultimately led to EMP winning World’s Best Restaurant in 2017.

(Shortform note: When you compare yourself to others who are doing better than you, you’re engaging in “upward social comparison.” This can inspire positive outcomes, as it did for Guidara and Humm, who channeled their feelings of inadequacy into transforming EMP’s culture so they could ultimately win World’s Best Restaurant. However, upward social comparison sometimes also has negative effects; comparing yourself to others can damage your mental health and even make you try to undermine the efforts of those who are doing better than you are.)

In this section, we’ll share how Guidara and Humm successfully transformed EMP into the world’s best...

Shortform Exercise: Take Your Business to the Next Level

Guidara turned Eleven Madison Park into the World’s Best Restaurant by practicing unreasonable hospitality. In particular, he streamlined priorities and policies, and he took care of employees and helped them flourish. Think about how you can apply these lessons to your business.

EMP had a 30-minute meeting every morning to discuss the priorities for the day as well as the team’s successes. Describe how you could introduce a similar routine to your team. For example, you might hold a weekly meeting or send out an update email every Monday.