#20 Danny Meyer (The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business)

**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.
I was born to go into business for myself, and I was destined to find a business that would allow me to share with others my enthusiasm for things I find pleasurable. My cravings for the adventures of travel, food, and wine is what first compelled me to do what I do. In fact, like so many other entrepreneurs I've met, I'm not even sure I had much of a choice. A career in the restaurant business was going to tap me on the shoulder even if I hadn't found it first.
This is not a typical business book, and it's certainly not a how-to book. I don't enjoy being told how or that I ought to do something, and I'm equally uncomfortable doling out advice without having been asked for it. What follows is a series of life experiences that led me to a career in restaurants, which has, in turn, taught me volumes about business and life. Along the way, I've learned powerful lessons and languages that have allowed me to lead with intention rather than by intuition. In the process of writing this book, I've done no research, gathered no evidence, and interviewed no one else. But I hope that admission won't stop you from enjoying it. You may think, as I once did, that I'm primarily in the business of serving good food, although food is secondary to something that matters even more. 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 that hard.
So that was an intro from the book I want to talk to you about today, which is Setting the Table, The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer. So even though I read this book about a year ago and I really enjoyed it, I kind of hesitated doing an episode of Founders on it, just because I'm not sure how many people know who Danny Meyer was.
As much as I'm interested in the subject of entrepreneurship and founders, I didn't know who he was until a friend of mine who was also a restaurateur recommended that I read this book. And it's really fantastic. So for the people that don't know who Danny Meyer is, people in the restaurant industry knew him as somebody who created gourmet restaurants.
He owned, I think, 10 or 11 restaurants in New York City. And he's influenced a lot of the thinking about restaurant design and how to run a restaurant. And a lot of other restaurateurs look up to him, for lack of a better word.
But how I was introduced to him, because I've never eaten, I don't think I've eaten in any of his restaurants other than Shake Shack. So like last week when I talked to, talked about Steve Jobs on the Becoming Steve Jobs podcast, Steve Jobs created one of my favorite products of all time, obviously the iPhone. And Danny Meyer also created one of my favorite products of all time. And that's the Shack Burger. After the IPO Shake Shack had a few years ago, it increased his net worth, Danny Meyer's net worth by about $350 million. So it's by far his greatest business success.
So this book, however, was published over almost 12 years ago, 2006 And at that time, Shake Shack was only had one restaurant. And so now fast forward 10 years later, it's a public company. I think there's over 100 Shake Shacks all over the country. So in this book, like he said, there's a lot of things that he learned from building restaurants that are applicable to any kind of business. And that's why I want to talk to you about it today. So let me jump to this part. And it's why don't you just do what you've been thinking about doing your whole life? And this is Danny Meyer talking about how he finally made the jump and got involved and became an entrepreneur. So at the time, he's in his early 20s. He's living in New York City, and he is a very successful salesperson for a large company called Checkpoint. And he'll reference it here. So let's go right to the book. The joy I was experiencing each day by setting my own personal and professional agenda made it increasingly clear to me that I would never go to work for someone else. Even at Checkpoint, where I officially reported to sales directors, I worked for myself out of my own walk-up apartment on the East Side. I had built my own little business within a business, creating my own schedule, plotting my own tactics, and exceeding whatever goals were set for me. My dad and both my grandfathers had worked for themselves, and they were all presidents of their companies. My mother had owned her own art gallery. I had an uncontainable drive to win that was now in high gear. We're going to talk about the influence that his dad and grandfather had on the way he approached business, too, because he mentions it a bunch of times throughout the book.