You can learn a lot about rapport from the hospitality business because it's often the way the business makes you feel that will bring you back. Danny Meyer launched the groundbreaking Union Square Café in New York twenty five years ago, now he is CEO of one of the world's largest restaurant organisations. His business philosophy revolves around enlightened hospitality, as Danny puts it:
"Hospitability is the foundation of my business philosophy. Virtually nothing else is as important as how one is made to feel in any business transaction. Hospitality exists when you believe the other person is on your side. The converse is just as true. Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you. Those two simple propositions – for and to – express it all."
For enlightened hospitality to work it must be expressed to each of five key stakeholders - to each other, then to guests, community, suppliers and investors. He makes no excuses for his staff first approach because the only way he can ensure superior customer service is to ensure they are served by happy staff.
Meyer also draws a useful distinction between service and hospitality. Service is the technical delivery of the product; this is necessary but not enough. Hospitality for Meyer is "how the delivery of that product makes the recipient feel" and is more like a dialogue that involves listening and responding. To reach the top requires excellence in service and hospitality.
Have you ever wondered why a technically perfect restaurant leaves you feeling cold? Meyer uses analogy of a light bulb that gives off both heat and light. Imagine if every business was a light bulb with the primary goal of attracting as many moths as possible. In Meyer's world 49 per cent of the attraction is the light and 51 per cent of the bulb's attraction is the warmth.
To find out more about Danny Meyer and his Union Square Hospitality Group visit http://www.ushgnyc.com/ or read his excellent book Setting the Table, (Harper, New York 2008).
