Setting the Table
The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
by Danny Meyer
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More Recommenders
“@rianasingh_ Setting the Table is a great book! | @schlaf @dhmeyer Danny’s book is one of my all time favorites. Great pick. | Create an experience that is like nothing else. | One of the best books on hospitality ever written. | We did a lot of reading Setting the Table at SoulCycle.”
Source →“@rianasingh_ Setting the Table is a great book! | @schlaf @dhmeyer Danny’s book is one of my all time favorites. Great pick. | Create an experience that is like nothing else. | One of the best books on hospitality ever written. | We did a lot of reading Setting the Table at SoulCycle.”
Source →“@rianasingh_ Setting the Table is a great book! | @schlaf @dhmeyer Danny’s book is one of my all time favorites. Great pick. | Create an experience that is like nothing else. | One of the best books on hospitality ever written. | We did a lot of reading Setting the Table at SoulCycle.”
Source →“@rianasingh_ Setting the Table is a great book! | @schlaf @dhmeyer Danny’s book is one of my all time favorites. Great pick. | Create an experience that is like nothing else. | One of the best books on hospitality ever written. | We did a lot of reading Setting the Table at SoulCycle.”
Source →“@rianasingh_ Setting the Table is a great book! | @schlaf @dhmeyer Danny’s book is one of my all time favorites. Great pick. | Create an experience that is like nothing else. | One of the best books on hospitality ever written. | We did a lot of reading Setting the Table at SoulCycle.”
Source →“@rianasingh_ Setting the Table is a great book! | @schlaf @dhmeyer Danny’s book is one of my all time favorites. Great pick. | Create an experience that is like nothing else. | One of the best books on hospitality ever written. | We did a lot of reading Setting the Table at SoulCycle.”
Source →Recommended by 8 notable people, including Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Noah Kagan
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
Part memoir, part management manifesto, this book takes you inside Danny Meyer’s rise from novice to celebrated restaurateur. The core argument—that putting employees first drives outstanding guest experiences—is illustrated through candid stories of openings, mistakes, and daily decisions. You’ll likely take away a nuanced understanding of hospitality as a deliberate, teachable mindset. The downside: the anecdotal, sometimes self-congratulatory tone may wear thin, and sections on the mechanics of restaurant operations can feel like inside baseball if you’re not in the industry.
Read this if...
- •A new restaurant manager who wants to build a team culture where staff feel genuinely valued and empowered to solve problems, not just follow scripts.
- •A small business owner in any service industry struggling to balance growth with personal touch, looking for a philosophy that prioritizes long-term relationships over short-term profit.
- •A corporate leader in a customer-facing company who senses that their ‘customer is always right’ mantra is burning out employees and wants an alternative framework.
Skip this if...
- •You’ll lose patience if you want a step-by-step playbook; the advice comes through stories, not templates.
- •Skip if you’re cynical about ‘soft skills’ business books—Meyer’s emphasis on emotional generosity can feel idealistic or naive if you’re in a cutthroat environment.
- •Likely to put it down when the restaurant war stories pile up without a clear through-line; the middle drags with repetitive anecdotes about specific hires and openings.
The bestselling business book from awardwinning restauranteur Danny Meyer, of Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, and Shake ShackSeventyfive percent of all new restaurant ventures fail, and of those that do stick around, only a few become icons. Danny Meyer started Union Square Cafe when he was 27, with a good idea and hopeful investors. He is no...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- A new restaurant manager who wants to build a team culture where staff feel genuinely valued and empowered to solve problems, not just follow scripts.
- A small business owner in any service industry struggling to balance growth with personal touch, looking for a philosophy that prioritizes long-term relationships over short-term profit.
- A corporate leader in a customer-facing company who senses that their ‘customer is always right’ mantra is burning out employees and wants an alternative framework.
- You’ll lose patience if you want a step-by-step playbook; the advice comes through stories, not templates.
- Skip if you’re cynical about ‘soft skills’ business books—Meyer’s emphasis on emotional generosity can feel idealistic or naive if you’re in a cutthroat environment.
- Likely to put it down when the restaurant war stories pile up without a clear through-line; the middle drags with repetitive anecdotes about specific hires and openings.
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View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 15 sources and appears in Hospitality, Most Recommended Books, and Food.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Patrick OShaughnessy
“@rianasingh_ Setting the Table is a great book! | @schlaf @dhmeyer Danny’s book is one of my all time favorites. Great pick. | Create an experience that is like nothing else. | One of the best books on hospitality ever written. | We did a lot of reading Setting the Table at SoulCycle.”
View sources (5) ▾80%
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen. Recommended by 10 sources.
“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
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How recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.