Danny Meyer

A great restaurant doesn't distinguish itself by how few mistakes it makes but by how well they handle those mistakes.

My history has been to grow the roots as deeply as you can before going on to the next thing. That's why it took 10 years to go from Union Square Cafe to Gramercy Tavern, and another 10 years to go from Blue Smoke's first location to its second, and five to go from Shake Shack 1 to Shake Shack 2.

The most important thing you can do is make the distinction between customer service and guest hospitality. You need both things to thrive, but they are completely different.

In an age when so many groups are rolling out restaurants faster than your local baker makes donuts, my goal is that each restaurant feels hand-crafted. That they have their own soul.

Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you. Those two simple prepositions - for and to - express it all.