Danny Meyer Quotations

Restaurants are like kids. You hope you understand their innate gifts, and then you let them realize their aspirations.

A great restaurant doesn't distinguish itself by how few mistakes it makes but by how well they handle those mistakes.

If someone said, 'You've got to eat your next two meals at American fast-food restaurants,' I would do one meal at Chipotle and one meal at Popeyes fried chicken.

I think that any business that thinks that the transaction is 'you give me money and I give you food, next, you give me money and I give you food, next,' without understanding that people deeply want to feel restored is in danger.

There are three things that people pick up on the instant they walk into your home on Thanksgiving. They will be able to feel the human energy. They'll smell the food. And they will see, instantly, the table.

One great worker equals three not-so-great workers, so it's worth paying terrific people not just for today but to find people that we think have upward mobility to become tomorrow's leaders.

During one of his uncannily well-timed impromptu visits to my restaurant, Union Square Cafe, Pat Cetta taught me how to manage people. Pat was the owner of a storied New York City steakhouse called Sparks, and by that time, he was an old pro at running a fine restaurant.

You can't let challenges argue you out of doing what you know is the right thing.

When I was young, I had no choice as to what I was eating.

Service is how product is delivered - the technical aspect.