Danny Meyer

If you're constantly making business decisions on behalf of your investors first, ultimately you're going to wear down your other stakeholders. It's going to be potentially hurtful for your employees and your customers and the community you do business with. ”

I opened Union Square Cafe when I was just 27 years old, and my first hope was simply that it would stay in business. My higher hope was that in its lifetime, it might grow to play an essential role in the lives of its stakeholders. ”

It's the job of any business owner to be clear about the company's nonnegotiable core values. They're the riverbanks that help guide us as we refine and improve on performance and excellence. A lack of riverbanks creates estuaries and cloudy waters that are confusing to navigate. I want a crystal-clear, swiftly flowing stream. ”

One of the things that may get lost among all the hubbub when a company is 'going public' is that the business can now be owned, in part, by its greatest fans. ”

People use restaurants to do business, to do politics, to socialize. ”

The cooking standards for Italian food are less demanding than for French. All you need are some fried mozzarella and five pastas, and you're in business. ”

Restaurants with small courses that give the customer choices, and that don't obligate them to spend a fortune, are going to do very well. ”

People who have come to appreciate well-sourced and well-cooked food refuse to pay too much for food that they wouldn't want to pay anything for. ”

A great restaurant doesn't distinguish itself by how few mistakes it makes but by how well they handle those mistakes. ”

When I was young, I had no choice as to what I was eating. ”