All soul
“Union Square Cafe is all soul, not brain.”
- Danny Meyer, New York City restaurateur and the CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), winner of 28(!) James Beard Awards. Danny’s team is behind world renowned restaurants like Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, and even Shake Shack.
McDonald’s feeds 1% of the world’s population every day.
68 million people.
It’s the world’s largest restaurant chain by revenue, and McDonald’s has successfully used its size to influence things like menu engineering, technology, and efficiency.
No matter how you feel about McDonald’s, one obvious way to measure business success is by reaching as many people as possible each day.
But global reach isn’t the only way to measure success.
All due respect to McDonald’s, but the best chefs, servers, and restaurant managers in the world don’t aspire to work there.
Big? Yes.
Influential? Yes.
Elite? Not so much.
Another measure of business success is earning a reputation within your industry as the varsity. Award winning. Elite.
The kind of organization that engenders human flourishing by creating the best careers.
The kind of place where everyone in the industry wants to work. Because they’ll be working where legendary careers are launched and made.
In the restaurant industry, that’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG).
USHG is led by Danny Meyer, a restaurateur responsible for some of New York’s most beloved restaurants. Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, The Modern, and Maialino. They’ve won 28 James Beard Awards with restaurants in New York, DC, and beyond.
USHG is renowned not only for its restaurants, but for their distinct and celebrated culture of what Danny calls Enlightened Hospitality. A guiding principle of prioritizing employees first has driven USHG’s growth from a small group of restaurants to a globally recognized hospitality organization.
“In the end, what’s most meaningful is creating positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.”
- Danny Meyer, in his NYT best selling book, Setting the Table
The best servers, bartenders, and chefs in NYC all want to work at a USHG restaurant, and the recruiting team looks for what they call 51-percenters.
51 percenters: Employees whose skills are divided 51/49 between emotional hospitality and technical excellence.
Danny and his team at USHG recognize 51-percenters as having five core emotional skills.
Optimistic warmth (genuine kindness, thoughtfulness, and a sense that the glass is always at least half full)
Intelligence (not just “smarts” but rather an insatiable curiosity to learn for the sake of learning)
Work ethic (a natural tendency to do something as well as it can possibly be done)
Empathy (an awareness of, care for, and connection to how others feel and how your actions make others feel)
Self-awareness and integrity (an understanding of what makes you tick and a natural inclination to be accountable for doing the right thing with honesty and superb judgment)
There’s nothing wrong with being McDonald’s.
McDonald’s feeds 1% of the world’s population every day.
McDonald’s is a well-oiled machine.
McDonald’s works.
But working or eating at McDonald’s doesn’t feel like working or eating at one of Danny Meyer’s restaurants.
When you visit one of Danny’s restaurants, you’re surrounded by 51 percenters.
That’s how you win 28 James Beard Awards.
Not with menu engineering, technology, and efficiency.
But by prioritizing employees first.
All soul.
