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When was the last time a business made you feel truly special?

This is the theme of a business book that I have just finished listening to on Audible. It is called 'Unreasonable Hospitality' by Will Guidara. I was unsure what I would get from it because it is specifically about the restaurant business, and I questioned how relevant it would be to my work.

How wrong could I be!

The book centres on Will's background and how he and his business partner, chef Daniel Humm, built their restaurant, Eleven Madison Park in New York, into the number one restaurant in the world.

While Humm concentrated on the food, Will concentrated on the front of house. He talks about the difference between service and hospitality. In my own words, I think he would view service as what can be measured and hospitality as how the customer is made to feel. The name, 'Unreasonable Hospitality,' takes the idea of hospitality beyond anything that is expected.

Will credits one particular story with setting them on the path to becoming the number one restaurant in the world.

In New York, street hot dog sellers keep them in baths of hot water, giving them the local name 'dirty water dogs'.

One day, Will Guidara was clearing plates in his restaurant when he overheard a table of European customers enthusing about all the great places they had eaten at in the city. One customer noted, however, that 'the only thing we didn't get to try was a New York City hot dog.' They were going to the airport directly from the restaurant.

Will describes a 'light bulb' moment (a sudden moment of inspiration).

Will calmly returned to the kitchen before sprinting down the street, buying a hot dog from the local street seller, and returning to the restaurant.

He then persuaded the chef to cut the hot dog into quarters and present it on 4 individual plates. He returned to the table and said, 'To make sure you don't go home with any culinary regrets - a New York City hot dog.' He was serving what New Yorkers call a dirty water dog in a fancy four-star restaurant.

The customers, in Will's words, 'freaked out.' Partly because the gesture was so unexpected, they loved it. This was 'unreasonable hospitality'.

The customers' reaction made Will realise that he was onto something. He wondered if he could bring this sort of experience to more customers.

His belief was so strong that he employed someone to create individual experiences for customers. This person eventually became a team. He called them 'dream weavers'.

Another example of unreasonable hospitality involved a family from Spain dining at the restaurant during winter. It had started to snow and the children had never seen real snow before. The dream weavers went out to buy 4 sleds (sleds in American English or sledges in British English). At the end of their meal, an SUV was waiting to take them sledding in Central Park.

It is this type of experience that Will believes made them the world's best restaurant.

These stories show the importance of considering how customers might feel in business.

The hot dog story shows that such gestures do not have to be expensive and that the reaction can far outweigh the cost. In both cases, I expect that of all the experiences those customers had in New York, the experience at Eleven Madison Park will last the longest in their minds and be the one they relay to their friends and family the most.

What can you do for your customers that might be termed 'unreasonable'?

We will return to 'Unreasonable Hospitality' and examine the 95/5 rule that Will uses to justify the expense of a team of dream weavers and unreasonable hospitality.

This quote perfectly captures the lesson from the hot dog story. The transaction was a $2 street hot dog. The experience was something those customers will remember for the rest of their lives.

What ordinary transactions in your business could you transform into an unforgetable experience?

Your opinion helps us improve and lets you suggest topics or ask Business English questions for future issues.

Unreasonable - adjective - beyond what is fair, sensible, or expected; exceeding normal limits or expectations

Literal Meaning: Unreasonable comes from the Latin "rationabilis," meaning "able to reason," with the prefix "un-" negating it. Originally, it described people or demands that went beyond what logic or fairness would dictate. In everyday English, it is almost always negative: "unreasonable demands," "unreasonable behaviour." However, Will Guidara deliberately chose this negative word to describe something positive, arguing that truly memorable hospitality should go beyond what anyone would reasonably expect.

Business English Context: In professional settings, "unreasonable" is typically used to describe excessive or unfair demands, expectations, or behaviour. Understanding its negative connotations makes Guidara's positive use all the more powerful. It suggests that sometimes, exceeding reasonable expectations is exactly what creates extraordinary results.

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