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Unreasonable Hospitality
A review of

Unreasonable Hospitality

The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect

Will Guidara • Portfolio • 2022

Magic on the Menu

by Patricia Sanders

Award-winning restaurateur Will Guidara redefined fine dining by offering hospitality — a genuine connection with guests, going beyond service — and by making that hospitality extravagant. In the course of an entertaining account of four-star dining, Guidara explains why and how your business can offer “unreasonable hospitality” too.

Restaurateur Will Guidara served as general manager of Eleven Madison Park in New York City for 11 years. During his tenure, the restaurant achieved “best in the world” status, according to an expert-curated annual list of the globe’s top 50 restaurants. Eleven Madison Park reached this milestone thanks to a pioneering concept that Guidara dubbed “Unreasonable Hospitality”: creating extravagant, bespoke-feeling service experiences for every guest.

No one who ever changed the game did so by being reasonable.

In Unreasonable Hospitality, Guidara tells the story of Eleven Madison Park’s rise to the pinnacle of fine dining, and traces his own journey from counting oysters in the basement of a New York skyscraper to become a restaurateur at the top of his field. And every story has its lesson — about building a healthy organizational culture, hiring as the core of that mission, how and when to give tough feedback, and more.

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