Danny Meyer’s take on developing strong customer service is likely to be the selling point for his first book, Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, out this month from HarperCollins. It lays out the practices behind the much lauded service at his restaurants, and like many business books, it includes lines that can seem hokey or inspired, depending on your mood. (“Hospitality is present when something happens for you,” he writes. “It is absent when something happens to you. Those two simple prepositions—for and to—express it all.” Hmm.) As genuine as the build-up-your-team passages are, we were most drawn to Meyer’s recollections of the planning stages for his string of successes, including Union Square Café, Gramercy Tavern, and the Modern. (He also mentions the places that didn’t open—Meyer turned down the chance to put restaurants in two of Starwood’s W hotels and in Ian Schrager’s new reimagining of the Gramercy Park Hotel.) The detailed accounts of the constant tinkering at all of his endeavors, which now include Shake Shack and Hudson Yards Catering, cover both the accolades earned and the mistakes made along the way, serving up an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at some of Meyer’s New York institutions-in-the-making. —Chad Kaydo
