Union Square Cafe

“240,000 dollars. For the 14 years, and then I spent 500,000 dollars building it, and that was it.”

“I don't let our chefs hire that pasta cook unless they believe that the pasta cook has those six emotional skills, meaning that now you've got someone who's really good at what they do and who is motivated to do that thing because they are happier themselves w…”

“I think service is a way to describe the technical delivery of the product. Did you do what was expected? Did you get the right food to the right person? And I think hospitality is a very different thing, which is, oh, by the way, how did you make the recipien…”

“My hiring, if you were from New York, I didn't pretty much want to hire you. I was looking for, because I didn't think of New York as being a very friendly place back then. I wanted a place that, that was welcoming.”

“That two-star review that we got. I think it tripled our business overnight.”

“To my mom's credit, my aunt's credit, my uncle's credit, we all structured this as a loan, which was great, because they then put me in a position where I could actually own all the equity after I paid off all the loans.”