Convene Reads: Doing Good by Doing Delicious

Last Friday evening was one of the first warm evenings of the season, and hundreds of New Yorkers had the same idea that I had -- to head to Madison Square Park to the Shake Shack. The long lines of people waiting for burgers, hot dogs, and milk shakes at the 20-by-20-foot kiosk literally are a joke: Shake Shack sells baby onesies that read: "I waited 9 months ... this line ain't that bad."

In Setting the Table, NYC restaurateur Danny Meyer, who operates the Shake Shack along with six other highly successful restaurants, presents the kiosk as a prime example of "doing well by doing good." A percentage of every sale goes to the Madison Square Park Conservancy, which in turn plows it back into the park, making it the kind of safe, beautiful place where you don't mind (too much) standing in line.

Investing in the community is a core philosophy for Meyer. He hosted one of the very first food-related fundraisers for Union Square Park and has continued to be instrumental in organizing and participating in culinary fundraisers to benefit the park. (For more on Union Square Park's rebirth, see our November 2008 profile of Fred Kent, founder of the Project for Public Spaces.)

By taking active leadership roles in working to revitalize two great city parks that anchor the neighborhoods in which we do business, we've demonstrated that a rising tide lifts all boats. The component of enlightened hospitality has beautified our neighborhood, and in turn has enhanced our business.

It's nice to know that Meyer feels your pain, line-wise. The burger stand has installed a Shack Shack cam, so you can check the lengths of the line online.

(This is the second part of a series digging into Setting the Table. Read an earlier post here.)

Convene Reads: Setting the Table

I’ve been meaning to read NYC restaurateur Danny Meyer’s 2006 book Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business for months. And now that I’ve finally picked it up, I can hardly put it back down.

The story of how Meyer built one of the most successful restaurant organizations in the country from scratch makes for compelling reading. Refreshingly, Meyer doesn’t paint himself as a genius or a saint: he tells about the time he got into a fistfight with a customer at his first restaurant (he was overworked and underfed), and admits that he spilled a glass of wine all over actress Mariel Hemingway because he was ogling her cleavage.

But it’s when Meyer talks about things like how he prioritizes business stakeholders that things get really interesting. (Seriously.)

Meyer names five primary stakeholders to which the company offers “the most caring hospitality,” and ranks them in this order: 1) employees 2) guests 3) community 4) suppliers and, finally, 5) investors.

That employees come first, even ahead of customers, in such a service-oriented field frankly surprised me a little. But as Meyer explains, his restaurants can only earn raves and customer loyalty if employees are jazzed about coming to work.

Well before our staff members can extend any kind of meaningful hospitality to our guests, they need to first understand the primary importance of being on each other’s side. Mutual respect and trust are the most powerful tools for building an energetic, motivated, winning team in any field. And the most talented employees are often those attracted to companies that can provide them with the most important job benefit of all: other great people with whom to work.

There’s so much to chew on in Setting the Table, I’m going to bring more of it to you over the next couple of weeks. In courses, so to speak.

Next up: Why reaching out to the community is in a company’s best interest.