Advice Line with Danny Meyer of Shake Shack
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Hello, and welcome to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz. This is the place where we help try to solve your business challenges. Each week I'm joined by a legendary founder, a former guest on the show, who will help me try to help you. And if you're building something and you need advice, give us a call and you just might be the next guest on the show. Our number is 1-800-433-1298. Leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business. And the issues or questions that you'd like help with. All right, let's get to it. This week I'm joined by legendary restaurateur Danny Meyer, founder of the Union Square Hospitality Group. Danny, it's great to have you back on the show. Thank you, guy.
Um, if if any of you listening have ever eaten out in New York City, there's a chance that you know Danny's story. He is the man behind Union Square Cafe, Graham Mercy Tavern, the modern, and he's the guy who took a single temporary hot dog stand. In Madison Square Park and turned it into Shake Shack, which is now a global publicly traded burger empire. Danny, um, you were last on the show in June of 2020. And for those of you who haven't heard the story, we will put a link to it in the show notes, so check it out. Um, that was a crazy time. The world was sh sheltering in place and and dining rooms were dark, and and it certainly felt like a long time ago. I think in 2022, you stepped. Yeah. to become executive chairman of the of the Union Square Group.
Um so uh first of all, before we get into that, uh just kind of give us an update about what's what's kinda going on in your life right now.
Yeah, well, yeah, I actually stepped up to become executive chairman. A lot of people thought I was retiring, which could not have been further from the truth. Right. And by being executive chairman, which was actually a term I had never even heard of before, it gave me the chance to continue to come into work every day, but to spend more of my time on fewer of the things, but those things that uniquely lined up with my gifts. So really it has to do with the cost. culture of the company, the culinary product of the company, and then all of the creative outlets we have for for new businesses. And that's what I spend my time on. Whereas before I was the guy, you know, hope hopefully making the trains run on time.
I'm just not doing that today. Yeah.
Um, you have a new book out. Congrats. Um, what could possibly go right? Um a big part of the book is about building an enduring culture uh and keeping teams aligned. Can you tell us a little bit about how you think about culture?
I think culture at its most basic is a word to describe how we do things around here. And every company, whether it's intentional or not, every family, every fraternity, sorority, every sports team, there's a way they do things around here. think the biggest way to build culture is to have a common set of behaviors that everybody in the organization understands that they are responsible for For really emanating. So for example, I I actually traveled a long way. I used to think that what we really needed was was family values. And we had those in place for about 15 years. And, you know, I wouldn't argue with any of them, but they weren't specific to our culture. Um and uh the other problem with that guy was that
It was disingenuous in retrospect to call them family values 'cause a business is not a family. And I noticed that every time we held someone accountable to the point that there just wasn't gonna be a place for them on our team going forward. people would go into deep grief because you don't fire a family member. And so The big transition I had was really evolving from family values to expected behaviors.
Who is Danny Meyer and what is his role at Union Square Hospitality Group?
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:09
2
Who is Danny Meyer and what is his role at Union Square Hospitality Group?
4:09–10:32
3
How does Danny define and build company culture according to his new book?
10:32–20:15
4
What practical signs reveal genuine hospitality in a restaurant?
20:15–29:13
5
How can a canned bourbon cocktail brand create a sense of hospitality?
29:13–41:58
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from How I Built This with Guy Raz
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