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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Service is how product is delivered - the technical aspect.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.