#185 César Ritz and Auguste Escoffier (The Hotelier and The Chef)

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso, or four energy drinks before or during the show, so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. Ritz was not humiliated. He was furious. After all he'd done for the Savoy, this was his thanks. To be cast out under a cloud of suspicion and allegations, it was outrageous.
Everything he'd done had been for the betterment of the Savoy. Of course he'd signed for checks and extended credits sometimes. That was his job as the manager, the host, the personification of the hotel and its generosity.
All those who'd been given credit would certainly be paying their bills. It was insulting to suggest otherwise.
And as for his dealings with the backers of the Ritz Hotel Syndicate, he had been perfectly aboard from the outset.
Richard had always understood that Ritz maintained his independence and would be involved in outside projects.
Indeed, from the very beginning, this freedom had been written into his contract with the Savoy. For Richard, to be holding it against him now was nothing less than a betrayal. But it was what Richard had said, that Ritz and Escoffier had forgot that they were servants and assumed the attitude of masters and proprietors.
Those words echoed in his head even now.
The idea that they should be seen as servants was the cruelest of insults.
César Ritz? Auguste Escoffier? Servants?
That was an excerpt in which César Ritz and Auguste Escoffier are fired from the grandest hotel in London called the Savoy. It comes from the book I'm going to talk to you about today, which is Ritz and Escoffier, The Hotel, the Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class. It was written by Luke Barr.
I absolutely love this book. I devoured it in just two days. I have a ton of highlights, so we're going to get to that. First, I want to tell you how I found it. This is an example of something, an idea, that you and I talk about all the time, which is that books are the original links. They lead you from one idea to another, from one person to another.
On the last episode of Founders, episode number 184, which is about the autobiography of the founder of Four Seasons, I came across just one sentence in the book that really piqued my interest, and he said, Remembering that César Ritz had made his hotels world famous by hiring some of the foremost chefs, we decided to do something similar. So I saw the name César Ritz. I thought, OK, that has to be the Ritz-Carlton guy, right?
And the result of Izzy Sharp, which is the founder of Four Seasons, like all great entrepreneurs and founders, studied the founders and entrepreneurs, the great entrepreneurs of the past, took ideas from their lives and careers and applied it to their own work. That is the entire thesis behind founders. It's something that, as you study the history of entrepreneurship, you see all of the best founders do. And this is the result of that. And by the mid-1980s, we had completely demolished the long-standing stereotype of a hotel restaurant as a mediocre, overpriced trap for tired travelers.
And so I read that, I was like, okay, I gotta see if there's a biography, if there's a book on César Ritz, if Izzy Sharp, one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever live, is learning from him, why aren't you and I? And so that led me to this amazing, amazing book. And so it's about César Ritz, which is his nickname is the Hotelier to Kings, excuse me, the King of Hoteliers, the Hotelier to Kings, and his partner, which is Auguste Escoffier, which is probably my, you could argue that he's the most influential chef of all time.