I took a quick trip to New York City last week, and while dining in some great spots I was reminded of a favorite guru of mine in the hospitality industry: Danny Meyer. Danny is CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group and owner of famed restaurants such as Union Square Café, Gramercy Tavern, Tabla, The Shake Shack, and many more.

I LOVE his approach to business which he calls enlightened hospitality and which serves as the foundation of his thriving restaurant empire. This business model, designed for long-term sustained profitability, embraces his key stakeholders in the following order: 1) employees  2) customers 3) community 4) suppliers, and 5) investors. Hmmm? Investors at the bottom of the list? Sound a bit backwards? Meyer argues that if you place the emphasis on the first four groups (in this order) you will find that it is their collective work and collaboration that fuels even greater and more enduring financial success which ultimately fuels the bottom line and makes for happy investors.

His businesses are known for outstanding employees, warm hospitality, strong ties with exceptional suppliers, and a solid commitment to playing an active role in the community. Investors are honored to be associated with businesses that generate not only profit, but good will and soul. There’s a lot to be learned from this business philosophy and I have enjoyed reading Meyer’s book Setting the Table, The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business.

Meyer understands that serving food is secondary to the experiences he creates for his customers and to quote him, “Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple, and it’s that’s hard.”

Cindy Wilson

PS – If you’re heading to NY  there’s a few new Shake Shacks popping up in the Theater District and the Upper East Side.

PS - I know it’s been around for a while, but my daughter and I loved, loved, loved Billy Elliott The Musical and I hear it’s coming to San Francisco in the Fall.

admin Relationship Marketing, The Wilsonwest Way collaboration, culture, customers, employees, food, partners, relationships

When it’s time to start the food and beverage planning with a hotel catering team, event producers are most likely to be handed a big file of “banquet menus” presented with fancy wording and packaging. Buffets, plated dinners, themed events, and food stations – you know the drill. Other than a glance at the pricing model, I generally spend little time with these menu packets. While I do respect that a skilled culinary team has spent many hours crafting and packaging these menus, I simply find this method of menu planning to be sterile, lacking in personality and that it provides little clue to the heart and soul of the hotel’s Chef de Cuisine and the seasonal offerings. I want more!

At Wilsonwest, we start the process with a conversation with our catering and conference services manager and from there we ask to be introduced to the Food & Beverage Director. Once we have a solid understanding of the property, the kitchen, and the connections to local purveyors, we then ask for an introduction to the Executive Chef and the Banquet Chef. We LOVE seeing what’s going on in the kitchen and what the Chef is enjoying doing at the moment. What’s a new favorite? What are you most proud of? What are the limitations of the kitchen and better yet, what special equipment, facilities or culinary resources do you have to really make the meal a special event?

We share information about our audience, however during the planning stages, we rarely dictate the specifics of any menu. We want to hear from the experts first - encouraging them to share the very best of what they have to offer and hopefully create an opportunity for them to try something new. We generally find that at first, the Chef is hesitant, thinking that a couple of event planners have turned “culinary” and they are protective of their space and rightly so. We respect that. It’s precisely the reason we solicit the expertise from the Executive Chef rather than solely a catering or conference services manager who may have little or no experience in the kitchen.

From here, it’s on to the tasting where we pay careful attention to presentation, portion, service, flatware, dinnerware, and (of course) taste. The banquet and conference service team are engaged in this process and from here we connect and build the team who will stage and serve the meal. We ask the team to taste along with us – it’s a collaborative with just the right amount of cooks in and out of the kitchen.

By this point in the process, almost every Chef we’ve worked with is excited, engaged and completely passionate about executing a new and exciting menu – so much so , that our joint creation often becomes a new addition to the banquet menu!

nick2 Event Essentials collaboration, drink, events, food

A few weeks ago, my colleague Mary Sullivan and I served dinner to a group of teenagers at the Larkin Street Youth Facility. It was an extraordinary experience in many ways. From the minute we walked in the door until the last meatball sub was served we felt a vibe – a good vibe. All around us were people helping other people and the energy in the air was palpable. The front door was open, the staff’s minds were open, and the kids were receiving all kinds of good energy, the kind of energy that helps you move beyond the street into a safer space.

It was a welcoming, nurturing space, with a sense of ease. Larkin Volunteer Manager Audrey Muntz greeted us and thanked us profusely for our simple dinner of meatball subs, salad and cupcakes. She shared Larkin’s mission with us, gave us a tour, and was incredibly thoughtful in the way she helped us understand and respect their work and the boundaries important to their mission. She wanted to make certain that we, too, were taken care of in the walls of Larkin Street Services. A part of me winced, thinking that I should have placed more care in the advance preparations – but thankfully my colleague and friend Mary Sullivan had prepared a homemade sauce inspired by an elderly North Beach neighbor while Nick Rossi’s wife (and chef) Tracy created the perfect cupcakes. Okay, I thought, let’s serve up the meatball subs.

Well, one by one, they disappeared with many requests for seconds and many thank yous in between. I walked out of there that night feeling so filled up – not from meatballs, but from the energy that came back to me and I am inspired to do more.

Thank you Larkin Street for the inspiration and the energy. You live your mission and your place exudes your mission.

Visit this place – call them and offer to help. They need clothes, money, and volunteers to prepare and serve dinners. You’ll feel the vibe the minute you walk in the front door.

admin The Wilsonwest Way culture, food, San Francisco

Each year at this time, as I count my blessings, I count among them the most wonderful invitation I receive each year: Thanksgiving brunch at Thomas Keller’s Manhattan restaurant Per Se – complete with the best indoor seats for viewing Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Does it get any better than that?

For 85 years, Macy’s Parade has kicked off the holiday season with glorious bands, balloons, and floats. 85 Years! I salute Macy’s for sticking with this parade through good and bad years (including both the Great Depression and the current recession).

Now, go out there and spread some of that good will and good cheer! Pretty soon more parades will start happening again in this country.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Wilsonwest who love parades, parties, and the like.

*Full disclosure: I borrowed this post’s clever title from Per Se’s invitation. Thank you Thomas Keller and the generous people of Per Se for the yearly invite.

admin The Wilsonwest Way culture, drink, food, holidays

The Fruits:

This Summer, the Wilsonwest team worked to launch a music program at Gateway High School: a distinguished San Francisco public charter school. Through community outreach, we outfitted the music room with drums, keyboards, a guitar, a sound system, music stands, and more. During a time when school funding is being slashed, it was exciting to add a great jazz program to the electives at Gateway. We were thrilled to receive word this week with an update on the new program:

“I am happy to report that I got to hear the Gateway jazz band on Friday morning along with my colleagues, all faculty, and staff. They were awesome! What a wonderful class – thanks to you and your hard work to lift this off the ground. Now they are being courted to play everywhere and at everything.”

- Tina McGovern, Director of Development at Gateway High School

Special thanks to Daniel Swan of Swan Entertainment, Dawn Richardson (Drummer extraordinaire), and Nick Rossi for your donations of equipment and instruments for the program.

We hope you will consider making a donation to this amazing school via their website.

The Flowers:

And, thanks to our client Cisco, we spread a little cheer in Southern California as well:

“Thanks so much for the October 22, 2009 flower donation following your Four Seasons San Diego event! As a result of your donation, we were able to deliver 18 arrangements and 12 succulent wreaths to the VA San Diego Medical Center. We were also able to use the loose flowers to create 3 centerpieces and to supplement another donation which was delivered to the UCSD Medical Center. The staff at both facilities were thrilled to accept such a lovely donation and told us the flowers are a wonderful treat for the patients!”

I love this organization! Got flowers? Call Blooms from the Heart to share flowers from your event.

And last, but definitely not least…

The Vegetables:

Our team spent an afternoon at the San Francisco Food Bank this week sorting through 15,800 lbs. of cucumbers. Our hosts at the Food Bank advised us that every pound of food connects to a meal for four people. Meaning, our efforts effectively touched the lives of over 50,000 San Franciscans. Donating your time at the Food Bank offers both immediate gratification and a great opportunity for casual conversation with your colleagues. It’s a great (and free) team-building event with immediate results!

admin The Wilsonwest Way Add new tag, culture, food, green

Last week, we were dining at Flour and Water here in San Francisco (it only took me a month to get a reservation) and in walked Ruth Reichl, Editor of Gourmet magazine, author, and food critic. I recognized her immediately and was excited to have such a foodie in our ‘hood. Seeing her reminded me of a great Summer memory of at least ten years ago. I was visiting family in Ohio and reading her book Tender at the Bone, a memoir of her life (with a food providing a backdrop, of course). I had plenty of leisure time that week and when I came upon Ruth’s story about her childhood memory of eating her first soufflé – accompanied by a recipe – I was inspired to try one of my own. That entire week was spent perfecting my soufflé, much to the delight of the family and neighborhood children who enjoyed both the rejects and the winners.

Whenever I see a famous person (no, it’s not every week) I usually keep my distance and avert my gaze, as that is just what seems to be the right thing to do. But this particular evening at Flour and Water, I decided to stop by Ruth Reichl’s table and thank her for contributing to such a great memory for me. She looked me in they eye, thanked me for sharing my words, and smiled at me in the best kind of way.

So yesterday, when I read of the sudden closing of Gourmet, I was especially saddened. I know that the writers, editors, and staff of Gourmet were the inspiration for many, many amazing culinary journeys, celebrations, and memories over the years.

Thank you Gourmet for inspiring us to keep tasting, to delight in diversity and perfection, and to relish in the discovery of something new. You will be missed.

admin The Wilsonwest Way drink, food, San Francisco

This is one of my least favorite event tasks. I remember sitting in the dentist chair one afternoon and he asked (with more than a hint of sarcasm), “What’s the worst thing that can happen with your job? You seat someone at the wrong table? Big deal!” Well, if you’ve been there, you know that it is a BIG deal. It’s always a mad dash the minute before the dining room or ballroom doors open and even with the best planning and management, there promises to be a challenge. In the hopes of saving you from those heart-pounding moments of seating madness, here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years:

1. Wait until the bitter end to write in table numbers on the escort cards. Believe me when I say, it will change…and change…and then change again.
2. Make sure you know if the guest is indeed in attendance (while this seems obvious, it is not always the case)
3. Read up on the protocol, especially when dealing with high-ranking guests. Try etiquette expert Letitia Baldrige’s New Manners for New Times: A Complete Guide to Etiquette. This will help you know where to seat guests at the table and proper protocol for titles, etc.
4. Have a no-show contingency plan, ESPECIALLY for the head table.
5. Stage a staffer next to the head table to assist guests to the proper table and to help ensure that that table is filled.
6. Get executive buy-in in advance.
7. Have a few staff at the door with the seating lists for those who forgot their cards or just plain have lost their way.
8. Don’t be surprised if someone sits at the wrong table, expect that it will happen and have a contingency plan.
9. Have a face book of the VIP guests so your staff may escort them to the host table without having to ask them for table number.
10. Don’t rely solely on a floor plan. When choosing the right tables for your hosts or special guests make sure you walk the room after the tables have been placed. Check for site lines, access, stage access, noise, views, etc. It’s a good idea to place your host’s seat where he or she will have maximum exposure to the entire room.
11. Once the guests have been seated, take a walk around the room to look for empty spots and adjust accordingly. Tighten up the table seating if needed to support the conversation.
12. Once the guests are all seated, have the servers remove the table numbers.
13. If you do this often, consider investing in seating software.

A VERY big deal indeed.

admin Relationship Marketing, The Wilsonwest Way events, food, seating

M.F.K. Fisher’s How to Cook a Wolf spoke to a nation at war and in the throes of rationing during WW II: a time when many felt the proverbial wolf at the door. But its central message, extolling the virtues of simplicity, still resonates today. “Since we must eat to live,” Fisher wrote in a postscript to the revised edition, “We might as well do it with both grace and gusto.”

I have long believed in the virtue of the family table and the power of food to transform. Beautiful food served with grace and eaten with gusto carries the ability to bridge diverse cultures. When Americans return from travel to Italy or France they will often remark on a leisurely lunch they experienced in which conversation (rather than time) remained king. I do hope the movement toward sustainability, slow food, and simplicity bring this tradition back to our culture.

On a higher note, I often imagine what table and environment might be set to help foster peace in the Middle East. I invite you to share your thoughts here with me and let’s send them along to the likes of Thomas Keller, Alain Ducasse, Matsuhita Nobu, Alice Waters, or the spikey-haired “diner” guy on the Food Network.

admin Relationship Marketing, The Wilsonwest Way culture, drink, food, relationships