Unreasonable Hospitality

The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect

By: Will Guidara

Narrated by: Will Guidara

Brought to you by Penguin.

Essential lessons in hospitality for every business, from the former co-owner of legendary restaurant Eleven Madison Park.

Will Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a struggling two-star brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world.

How did Guidara pull off this unprecedented transformation? Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room—and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality. Guidara’s team surprised a family who had never seen snow with a magical sledding trip to Central Park after their dinner; they filled a private dining room with sand, complete with mai-tais and beach chairs, to console a couple with a cancelled vacation. And his hospitality extended beyond those dining at the restaurant to his own team, who learned to deliver praise and criticism with intention; why the answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more—not less; and the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner.

Today, every business can choose to be a hospitality business—and we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences. Featuring sparkling stories of his journey through restaurants, with the industry’s most famous players like Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer, Guidara urges us all to find the magic in what we do—for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.

©2024 Will Guidara (P)2024 Penguin Audio

It is a very good way to rethink how you do your day to day life.

I think you can learn a lot from the book, but the author sometimes says to much words with no content, or he hoes on about the same things.
There is a youtube video about this bood / concept that is sufficient to get the idea he is talking about.

Service industry blueprint

Hailing from the medical and scuba diving industry and loving coffee shops and dining out, this book was such a pleasure to listen to. It was loaded with so many business and leadership nuggets.

Loved it!

I normally read every day., after finishing Unreasonable Hospitality I can’t start a new book, just because I don’t believe there is any book exists which can make me feel same emotions!

Inspiring leadership story

I loved the book. Its content is easy to follow and digest. Although it is about leading and growing a restaurant business, it can also be translated to many other industries. It offers great insights into the challenges and struggles of leading an organisation, creating an internal culture, and scaling the business.

At the same time, it's hard not to reflect on the insights into the lavish lifestyle associated with the 'fine dining' industry. The hard truth is that all of the hospitality and guest care that is described in the book went to the people (probably business owners or CEOs) who mistreated or underpaid the people they were working with, and were most likely spending company profits on expensive dinners instead of on salary increases and appropriate bonuses for people who earned it.