The Short Version
Unreasonable Hospitality, Will Guidara’s 2022 book, works well for a workplace or business book club because it is full of stories your group will retell and ideas that apply far beyond restaurants. It follows how Guidara and chef Daniel Humm took Eleven Madison Park from a two-star brasserie to number one on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2017. It runs about three hundred pages in twenty chapters plus an epilogue.
Below are fourteen discussion questions and an applying-it section for your own jobs. Our review scores the book four out of five, with inspiration and stories at five, and notes that it runs long and some advice assumes a luxury budget.
The Big Idea
Guidara’s line is that service is black and white and hospitality is color. Service is getting the job done right, while hospitality is making people feel something while you do it. The book then asks what would happen if you went beyond what is reasonable.
Discussion Questions
- Guidara says service is black and white and hospitality is color. Describe a time you received correct service that left you cold.
- He argues we live in a hospitality economy, where people remember how you made them feel, whether you sell houses, write code or teach. Does that match your field?
- The street hot dog story: Guidara overheard four European guests say the one thing they had not eaten in New York was a street hot dog, bought one from the Sabrett’s cart, and had the kitchen plate it in four pieces like a fancy course. Why did this cheap gesture matter so much?
- The Spanish family with four new sleds took a car to Central Park in the snow. When does a surprise like that become the best part of the experience, and when might it be too much?
- Guidara calls personalized surprises Legends and created a full-time Dreamweaver role to make them. Should surprise be a system or stay spontaneous?
- The Rule of ninety five five means managing ninety five percent of the business to the penny so you can spend the last five percent foolishly on the guest. What is the five percent in your workplace, and is it money or time?
- Guidara and Humm clashed at first, with warmth in the dining room against strict European kitchen training. How did the tension become a strength?
- He believes you must treat your team the way you want them to treat guests, down to pre-shift notes he designed himself. Does your workplace do that?
- A longtime captain told Guidara he was hurting the restaurant by refusing to name a successor. How hard is it to let go of control when you have built something?
- The book includes burnout and the cost of ambition. What does it say about balance, and did you believe it?
- The line above the time clock read: to be the most delicious and gracious restaurant in the world. What would yours say?
- Our review notes many examples depend on a luxury budget and staff. How would you translate them for a small shop, a hospital or a call center?
- Guidara openly credits Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table. How original does the book feel to you, and does it matter?
- Hospitality only works on top of excellence, the book says. Are the basics right in your workplace?
Applying It
Try a one-week plan. Map your three most common interactions and ask whether each was correct and how it felt. Pick your five percent. Keep a list of what you overhear, like a birthday or a nervous presentation. Create one Legend, such as a handwritten card or a follow-up that remembers a detail. Recognize a colleague in a specific way. Watch for the traps: spending on gestures while the basics are broken, making Legends generic, and forgetting that hospitality is for colleagues too.
What To Read Next
If your group wants more, our books-like-it list covers six picks, from Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table to Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. Start with our review if you want an overview first, and use the summary and lessons pages to plan your applying-it week.
