Will Guidara made his name as the former manager, then former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, which has boasted three Michelin Stars since 2012, and was ranked first (first!) among The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2017.
How did he and his team pull it off? It all started with a hot dog.
In his bestselling business book, “Unreasonable Hospitality,” he recounts this famous frank incident, which has since been brought to life in an episode of the comedy-drama series, The Bear.
As the story goes, one weekend, he was removing the appetizer plates from a table of four, when he overheard these out-of-towner guests talking about their amazing culinary weekend in New York.
The guests were apparently real foodies, and had spent the last couple of days eating at the most excellent and exotic restaurants in the city, their short visit to the city having been a sky-full of glittering Michelin stars. This meal at Eleven Madison Park was to be their last before heading for the airport.
Guidara overheard one of the four commenting, “It was a perfect trip… the one thing missing is that I never got to taste a real New York hot dog.”
Without missing a beat, Guidara ran out of the restaurant, down the block, and bought a hot dog from the nearest hot dog street cart. He then rushed back into the kitchen, where he proceeded to convince one of the best chefs in the world to serve a hot dog (albeit cut up into little pieces and adorned with little dollops and smears of ketchup, mustard and garnishes) on a nice china plate. He rushed it back out to the table, before the main entrees had time to arrive, presented it to the table saying, “To make sure you don’t return home without any culinary regrets, a New York hot dog.”
Suffice to say, it made their day. A humble New York dog ended up being the highpoint of their weekend. And gave Guidara a culinary story for the ages.
The point of the story, and the point of the aforementioned book he wrote, was that his restaurant didn’t get to the top of the food chain (no pun intended) because they knew more or had more money than the other top kitchens. Yes, they still had to produce incredible food, but they got to the very top because they CARED more. They listened more. They CONNECTED more.
The great Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, (who also had a small side hustle as Emperor of Rome), had a wonderful piece of advice:
“You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength.”
Worry more about what you CAN control, worry less about what you can’t.
Which is why, a bit like Guidara, we’ve always advocated the idea that the surest way to become successful is to “care more,” or “outcare the competition.”
In many ways, you can’t control that the competition has more money than you. Or more market share or is beating you on price.
But you CAN control how much you CARE.
Which means, if we’re doing this at scale whether it’s a restaurant group, a law firm, a hardware chain, whatever), what we’re really talking about is building a culture that “outcares” the other guys.
The one thing to remember is that WE are the ones who have to decide. Deciding to care is not a not a business decision, it’s a moral decision.
In the end, it’s either a part of our company identity or not.
