A biography for Danny Meyerhasn’t been written yet.
“Hospitality is almost impossible to teach. It's all about hiring the right people.”
“I run in London, in San Francisco - any city that's got a waterfront or park.”
“Restaurants are like kids. You hope you understand their innate gifts, and then you let them realize their aspirations.”
“Human nature doesn't change. When enough people are comfortable enough financially, there is going to be human nature that wants to spend more money on better quality and, to some degree, status symbols as well.”
“I think that more and more and more really talented restauranteurs and chefs from the fine dining world are going to try their hand at fine casual. They're going to say, 'Why not us?'”
“In the restaurant business, as opposed to the theater, center orchestra is an 8 P. M. reservation. Orchestra on the side is 7 or 8:30. Mezzanine is 6 and 9. But people don't take it personally when they call the theater and can't get what they want.”
“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.”
“You can't let challenges argue you out of doing what you know is the right thing.”
“Union Square Cafe is all soul, not brain.”
“What you can do is present existing flavors in a fresh way, in a fresh context.”
“Restaurants and chefs have become followed by such a broad swath of the public, in a way that used to be reserved for sports stars, movie stars, and theater actors. Restaurants are in the firmament of today's common culture.”
“When I was young, I had no choice as to what I was eating.”
“Festive cocktails mean color, lots of color.”
“Be aware of textural elements throughout a party, like silverware, stemware, and linens. But the biggest element is metaphorical: it's your own touch. How are you making people feel?”
“Good service means never having to ask for anything.”
“A great restaurant is one that just makes you feel like you're not sure whether you went out or you came home and confuses you. If it can do both of those things at the same time, you're hooked.”
“The part of capitalism that doesn't work for me is when capitalists make decisions in the way that Adam Smith suggested, which is that as long as you do everything in the interest of the investor, you're going to actually make the best decisions for all other stakeholders. I don't happen to agree with that.”
“'Fine casual' means taking the cultural priorities that fine dining, at its best, believes in.”
“There are a zillion variables to a hamburger. What part of the animal went into it. What coarseness. What temperature.”