Unreasonable Hospitality: Why This Should Be Required Reading for Anyone in Hospitality

I was at the Four Seasons Marketing Conference in Las Vegas when Will Guidara took the stage. For those unfamiliar, Guidara transformed Eleven Madison Park from a struggling two-star brasserie into the best restaurant in the world. His talk was filled with stories from his book Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect, and by the end, every participant received a copy.

I devoured mine immediately. It's now covered in underlines, dog-eared pages, and margin notes. I highly recommend it – not just for hospitality professionals, but for anyone who leads a team or serves customers in any capacity. It’s my new favourite leadership book. It is mostly about building a great culture – which takes time and patience.  Not so much “what” to do, but “how” to do it.  Though the context of his personal journey, his approach and passion I really believe will work in any context where the leader wants to build a strong and enduring culture of commitment, excellence and caring.

From Struggling Brasserie to World's Best Restaurant

Will Guidara was just twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park (EMP), a restaurant that had never quite lived up to its majestic dining room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world.

How? Through radical reinvention, a true partnership between kitchen and dining room, and what Guidara calls "unreasonable hospitality" – going so far beyond expectations that it creates unforgettable, emotional experiences.

The book is part memoir of a restaurateur's journey and part business manual on blending soft and hard skills. It should be required reading for managers and leaders of any business who want to deliver better experiences for everyone – especially anyone in hospitality.

The Hot Dog That Changed Everything

One of my favourite examples of unreasonable hospitality – and one also highlighted in the acclaimed series The Bear, praised for its authentic portrayal of the high-pressure culinary world – is the famous hot dog story.

One evening at EMP, Will overheard four guests saying it was their last night in New York. They'd been everywhere but were disappointed they hadn't eaten a famous NYC hot dog. Right then, Will rushed out to a street cart, bought a hot dog, and brought it back to the kitchen. The chef cut it into four pieces and plated it as if it were a fine dining dish. When it was presented to the guests, they were completely overcome with emotion.

In The Bear's "Forks" episode, this moment is recreated almost exactly: In the scene the family is moved to tears and it serves as a pivotal moment in the character Richie, where he begins to understand the transformative power of truly listening to guests and responding to their needs in unexpected ways.

As Will observes: "It was proof that we didn't have to go to extraordinary lengths to blow someone's mind. All we had to do was pay attention."

Service vs. Hospitality: Understanding the Difference

One of Will's favourite questions to ask was: "What's the difference between service and hospitality?"

The best answer he ever received: "Service is black and white; hospitality is colour."

Doing your job with competence and efficiency is black and white – it's expected, it's professional, it's necessary. But colour means making people feel great about the job you're doing for them. It's genuinely engaging with the person you're serving to create an authentic connection.

That's hospitality.

Lessons That Stood Out

Having worked in luxury hospitality for over a decade at Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon, several of Will's insights resonated deeply:

Details Matter – Even (Especially) Coffee

Many restaurants serve amazing food but then something goes seriously wrong when it comes to coffee.

Why, Will asks, would a $1,000 meal end with average coffee when you can often have a glorious single-origin espresso from a kerbside café on your way to work?

The problem was that coffee traditionally fell within the remit of the beverage manager, whose main focus was wine. No wonder coffee got overlooked.

At EMP, they promoted a coffee aficionado, Jim Betts, to be specifically responsible for it, introducing Chemex-style coffee that could be brewed tableside. An after-dinner coffee at EMP went from being a "just fine" bulk-ordered afterthought to an exquisitely crafted, educational, and theatrical experience.

Tap Into Passions – Then Give Them the Keys

After improving coffee, Will wanted to elevate their cocktail program. He put Leo Robitschek in charge, who is now one of the world's foremost mixologists.

This became EMP's "ownership program" – identifying team members' passions and giving them genuine responsibility to transform that area. As Will writes: "Success comes in cans, failure comes in can'ts."

Precision in the Smallest Details

The people setting tables at EMP were trained to place each plate with the label on the bottom side facing upward. This way, if guests lifted the plate to see who made it, the name would be facing them. (This is something I do all the time! Love knowing where the china comes from!)

This set the tone for how they would do everything throughout dinner service. Precision in the smallest details translates to precision in the bigger ones.

Create Moments of Magic

There are two times during a restaurant experience where guests are most sensitive to delays: the start and the end of the meal. When you sit down, you want water immediately.

At EMP, they developed a sign language system so the head waiter could communicate the guest's preferred water choice to the server while still chatting through the menu. The water would appear before the captain had finished their interaction – like magic. Seems so simple, but it's such a game changer!

The Dreamweavers

EMP created a team of "Dreamweavers" – people dedicated to super-serving customers. They went to incredible lengths to create and deliver memorable magical experiences, often by eavesdropping on conversations and responding to something overheard.

Will describes this as "improvisational hospitality." It requires genuine attention, creativity, and a willingness to break the script.

The Charitable Assumption

This is such an important takeaway, I’ve seen this so often overlooked in today's corporate culture: Instead of jumping on someone who's late for a shift, make the charitable assumption and ask, "You're late, is everything okay?"

Leading with empathy doesn't mean lowering standards – it means recognizing that your team members are human beings with lives outside work.

Choose Conflicting Goals

Leaders should choose conflicting goals. For example, Southwest Airlines set goals of being the lowest-cost airline in America and being number one in customer and employee satisfaction.

Having multiple conflicting goals forces you to innovate. You can't achieve both through conventional thinking.

Building Culture Takes Time

This is my new favourite leadership book, though it's less about what to do and more about how to do it. It's mostly about building a great culture – which takes time, patience, and persistence.

Chapter titles include:

Restaurant-Smart vs. Corporate-Smart

Breaking Rules and Building a Team

Creating a Culture of Collaboration

Relationships Are Simple. Simple Is Hard.

Earning Informality

Learning to Be Unreasonable

Quotes That Stuck With Me

"People will forget what you do, they'll forget what you said, but they'll never forget how you made them feel."

"All it takes for something extraordinary to happen is one person with enthusiasm."

"If you can't find more compliments to deliver than criticism, that's a failure in leadership."

"The way you do one thing is the way you do everything."

Why This Matters Beyond Restaurants

Will's philosophy extends far beyond fine dining. Today, every business can choose to be a hospitality business. We can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences – whether we're running a hotel, managing a team, or serving clients in any capacity.

One story Will shared at the Four Seasons conference particularly resonated: As a young boy, his father took him to dinner at the Four Seasons, and thirty years later, he still hasn't forgotten how they made him feel. You can imagine the applause he received when he mentioned this to a room full of Four Seasons marketing professionals.

I remember my first time walking into Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon with my father many years ago. My son remembers his first stays at Four Seasons fondly too, and I'm certain he'll remember them in thirty years1

That's the power of hospitality done right – it creates memories that last a lifetime.

I haven't been back to New York since reading this book, but when I do, I hope to get a reservation at Eleven Madison Park. I want to experience firsthand what Will and his team created – not just the food, but the feeling.

Because ultimately, that's what unreasonable hospitality is about: making people feel seen, valued, and cared for in ways they never expected.

Have you read Unreasonable Hospitality? What examples of exceptional service have stayed with you?