Will Guidara, former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, explains why designing tailored customer service systems requires annual strategic planning involving the entire restaurant staff.
“You can't do these things effectively unless you do indeed involve the entire team. There's the, I call it famous because I think it's famous, but the quote by David Marquet that in most organizations, the people at the top have all the authority and none of the information. While the people on the frontline have all the information and none of the authority. In order to brainstorm like truly significant things within this space, especially, you need to bridge that gap between authority and information.”
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Insight
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Will GuidaraSep 30, 2025▶ 24:40The Hospitality Principles That Build Billion-Dollar Startups
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Insight
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Will GuidaraSep 30, 2025▶ 54:32The Hospitality Principles That Build Billion-Dollar Startups
Opinion
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“I don't believe there should be a dress code in a restaurant. I think that you're there to invite people as they are”
Will GuidaraSep 30, 2025▶ 55:17The Hospitality Principles That Build Billion-Dollar Startups
Insight
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“It wasn't the pursuit of excellence that actually took the restaurant over the top. It was the relentless, unreasonable pursuit of hospitality, right? Like you push everything to get every detail so unbelievably perfect, and then you do these messy things at t…”
Will GuidaraSep 30, 2025▶ 2:07The Hospitality Principles That Build Billion-Dollar Startups
Insight
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“When you're a leader that acts like a dick, people are just scared of getting yelled at. When you're an attentive leader that is thoughtful in holding people accountable. People don't want to make a mistake because they don't want to let you down.”
Will GuidaraSep 30, 2025▶ 6:25The Hospitality Principles That Build Billion-Dollar Startups
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