My staff's job is to adjust to circumstances with technical precision and artful grace so that every patron has a wonderful experience.

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

Some people are near- or farsighted - I'm thorn-sighted. The thorns on the rose are in really sharp definition for me, the rose petals a little fuzzier.

In order to encourage the cattle farmers to raise a herd of all-natural cattle, which is a several-year process, they have to know that it's not just Shake Shack that wants to buy it. They have to have other buyers who are willing to pay more for all natural.

I just think the best way for me to be greedy is long-term greedy.

My dad gave me the gene to enjoy cooking, and to enjoy consuming good food and wine.

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.

It's always imperative to improve and to remain dynamic - or you'll become lunch, as opposed to serving it.

A delicious meal cooked by a colleague for many others nourishes not only the body but also the soul.

I run in London, in San Francisco - any city that's got a waterfront or park.

The great thing about capitalism is that it's a system that works.

I've been in love with Washington ever since renting my very first apartment there many years ago while working as a Senate intern.

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

I don't get to cook in my own restaurant.

I throw 14 parties a week.

Ninety-five percent of all brussels sprouts come from California.

The only thing I hate is when bad food is paraded as something great, and people are charging a lot for it.

I grew up in a reform Jewish family in St. Louis. Our idea of Judaism was no bar mitzvahs and a Christmas tree that had a skirt at the bottom embroidered with the names of my grandparents.

If somebody doesn't want to cook at home or has more family members than they have room for, then it's great to be in a city that's got restaurants that are actually busy on the holidays.

There are a zillion variables to a hamburger. What part of the animal went into it. What coarseness. What temperature.

You cannot open a major New York restaurant today and not be aware that showbiz will play a role.

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.

More and more, museums will look at restaurants and chefs differently - as if they are curating art.

Restaurants are like kids. You hope you understand their innate gifts, and then you let them realize their aspirations.

I think that any business that thinks that the transaction is 'you give me money and I give you food, next, you give me money and I give you food, next,' without understanding that people deeply want to feel restored is in danger.

London has become one of the great world destinations for someone who likes food.

I don't think there's going to be sustainable demand for restaurants that force you to spend hours there.

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.

When the economy goes sour, there are three different kinds of restaurants that do well: the smaller-scale neighborhood restaurants that don't ask much of you; those that have banked enormous goodwill by offering great value during the boom; and those with proven records of excellence, a sure thing.

When chefs like Wolfgang Puck became household names, that became a compelling reason for an intelligent young person to go into the cooking profession. There have been no waiters who have turned into household names. The service and hospitality aspects have clearly lagged behind the kitchen.

Service is how product is delivered - the technical aspect.

In the restaurant business, as opposed to the theater, center orchestra is an 8 P. M. reservation. Orchestra on the side is 7 or 8:30. Mezzanine is 6 and 9. But people don't take it personally when they call the theater and can't get what they want.

Essentially what's going to determine how you succeed in New York is how people feel about the space, how delicious the food is, how they perceive the value and, most important of all, how they feel treated. My understanding is Stephen Starr is exceptionally good at all of this and his ability to create a transporting experience.

Wearing a baseball cap or sleeveless shirt in a white-tablecloth restaurant is rude and makes other diners upset, just like someone on a cellphone.

Diners are upset that restaurants aren't honoring reservations, and a lot of restaurants help bring this on by overbooking.

At my restaurants, we have training drills before every meal. We talk about what we did yesterday that was great and what we can improve today.

Short of hiring a new staff, consider giving subpar workers a chance to improve. Tell them why they're not measuring up and give them a set amount of time to make specific improvements.

Whole Foods has been brilliant at changing the way food is produced because they just won't buy it if it doesn't meet their standards.

I trust that McDonald's can find a way to sell all-natural chicken without raising their prices; we did that at Shake Shack. It is more expensive, and we took a slight margin hit, but we did it. And if we can do it, I know that much bigger companies can.

Today, it's almost the outlier if people are not photographing what they ate and then sharing that in real time.

One of my great teachers was the late Jean-Claude Vrinat of Taillevent in Paris.

I learned that you shouldn't take your most esoteric concept and fit it into the largest space with the highest fixed costs. It puts too much pressure on the restaurant to hit grand slams every day when there just aren't enough people who want to watch that sport.

Long before Starbucks popularized the phrase 'the third place' - somewhere to interact outside of work and home - it was neighborhood restaurants that helped to define places like Union Square.

It is sad that the more 'successful' a neighborhood becomes, the more it gradually takes on a recognizable, common look, as the same banks, drugstore chains and national brands move in.

The part of capitalism that doesn't work for me is when capitalists make decisions in the way that Adam Smith suggested, which is that as long as you do everything in the interest of the investor, you're going to actually make the best decisions for all other stakeholders. I don't happen to agree with that.

Restaurants and chefs have become followed by such a broad swath of the public, in a way that used to be reserved for sports stars, movie stars, and theater actors. Restaurants are in the firmament of today's common culture.

I'm a big believer that you can try to change the world based on philosophy, doctrine, and belief. But I think the thing that really drives the world is hedonism, the pleasure factor.

Every restaurant needs to have a point of view.

Be aware of textural elements throughout a party, like silverware, stemware, and linens. But the biggest element is metaphorical: it's your own touch. How are you making people feel?