PART 7. COMPREHENSIVE CASE 491 PART 77 Comprehensive Case incide the Mind of Shake Shack's Founder introduction York City, Meyer decided to use the body and to examine Meyer is an extremely creative and proactive business and entrepreneur. He has demonstres career-especially with the introduction and expansion of wing Shake Shack chain Shake Shack almam burgers, hot dogs, crinkle cut fries, shakes from beer and wine. With its fresh and ich food, Shake Shack is a fun and lively gathering place with wide ad appeal Meyer's Basic Philosophy "People want the highest quality food, but they don't want the fancy experience anymore," said Day Meyer, the chees tive officer (CEO) of Union Square Hospitality Group and the founder of ShakeShack. According to Me, some d e saying, "We like our food better when it's a hole in the wall Union Square Hospitality Group's restaurant portfolio runs the gamut from such tony New York City eweries is the Gramercy Taver and The Modern at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), to the classy.casual barbecue Blue Smoke, to the fast-growing Shake Shack, which started as a hot dog stand in New York City's Madison Square Park and had grown to more than 90 locations worldwide by mid-2016. According to Shake Shack's Web site (www.shakeshack.com at that time, it had outlets in 15 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in four foreign countries and the Middle East. Danny Meyer was a special guest the 2016 Convenience Store News Foodservice Summit, held March 15-16, 2016, partnership with Tyson Convenience, where the participated in an interactive roundtable discussion with about a doven other leading foodhervice executives The trailblazing restaurateur noted that in his many travels around the world, the best croissant he's ever tasted was a gas station in Uniu. "People like to be surprised by highlow experiences like that 's a wonderful trend for you all he said gesting to the convenience foodservice retail executives and chefs gathered around the the Meyer, who restaurants and chefs have earned an un Read Awards, had breakfast with the con- venience store store retailers after they spent the day visiting unique food concepts throughout the Big Apple CSN 'Taste of Manhattan Tour, which included a top ShakeShack outlet,his barcosul hamburger bale We started Shake Shack as a hot dog eart in Madison Sewa Park in 2000. Meyer m e d relating how the cre- son of the fast-casual chain was great experiment in com hining capitalism with philanthropy Meyer, then spearheading the rehabilitation of Me Park, which had fallen into great disrepair, was asked vise the operation of a hot dog cart inside an art exhibit part of the park's renewal effort. Already operating fucy Selling Chicago bat desbot des topped with yel low muchopped e wish al le per to slices, cind peppers, and celery at the single food and became extremely successful drawing lines that bered m e than 100 people at a time. Four years later, the city asked Meyer to operate a permanent 30 foot by 30-foot kiosk is Madison Square Park. Interestingly, that original Shake Shack kiosk focused on milkshakes, no ca the hamburgers 1 had be idea it would become so famous for its burgers," said Meyer Every year, we had to the kitchen to increase e ce for buyers. In addition to burgers, the restaurants menu elded its eponymous shakes and French fries, and even 'Shroom Burger. Since the beginning. Meyer has wanted e rything ShakeShack to be able He eventually donated the original building which cont SI million to built to the park and c in e perate the Shake Shack unit as a tenant. The Madison Square Park location's sales come to today. During the s erie, the type cally reaches to outside the park and the wait time for service can be an hour or more. A Webcam on the Shack's homepage shows the length of the current line in real time for that location Unlike more agressive catrepreneur, Danny Meyer waited 5 years before opening a second ShakeShack, this time en Manhattan's Upper West Side ShakeShack is the first time we did anything for the second time,"commented Meyer whose other restaurare mainly sile n cio Although he eventually expanded Shake Shack to add tical locations in New York, as well as in Connecticut Washington, DC, Florida Georgia, Illinois, Maryland Massa chts, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania Texas, Meyer felt that it was important to make every location unique We're proud to be a chain, but who wrote the rule that every link in the chain has to be the same he asked Twenty percent of the every Shake Shack untis localired; and none of the units look the same, he noted, point ing to the seats at the New Haven, Connecticut Shake Shack that look like the seats at the city's historic Yale Bowl football stadium. Each ShakeShack unit al carries a wide selection of craft beers local to that particular area At the 2016 CSNews Foodservice Summit, Meyer had just returned from the grand opening of the first California Shake Shack in West Hollywood in Los Angeles. With international partners, Shake Shack also operates in was locales as Tokyo London Istanbul, Moscow, Beirut, Dual AbuDhabi Doha Kuwait City, Riyadh, and Jeddah Chick'n Shack Hatched As Shake Shack has expanded, so too has its me, leading to the recent introduction of the restaurant's first chicken sand- wich, the Chick'n Shackeakinless mainted chicken breast that arrives Vacuum-packed to the store and is then freshly bal tered and fried, and served with bleace, pickles, and a but termilk herb mayo informatii De La Madero MyC i Stow New May 2016, pp34-13. Reprinted Show 2016 by 492 PART 7. COMMUNICATING WITH THE CUSTOMER Ir's troubled me for the past 20 years. And now, the la The Chick'n Shack has been an immediate hit. "In Los 2 years, we are in the midst of the greatest labor crisis in Ne Angeles, we had our busiest opening day in our history." said York City history," he said. "The disparity between the wages Meyer, "and the chicken sandwich sold at 80 percent of the of tapped employees and non-tipped employees is huge. The beef burger." average tip in New York City is about 21 percent, which is great Al the Foodservice Summit, Meyer asked the c-store fortipped employees, but we can't find enough skilled cooks retailers to share what they saw and experienced during the to staff our kitchens. Taste of Manhattan tour. He apreed with them that the cateries Meyer reached his own personal tipping point, so to speak on the tour illustrated many of the key trends in the foodser when he found out that he had more Culinary Institute of Amer vice sector, such as the popularity of local, fresh ingredients: isa trained chefs working for him as servers than working in the importance of being authentic and the opportunity to Kitchens because they couldn't make enough money as cool "make food be theater. Several of the retailer sendes told "Because of that, and the fact that I never liked the master Meyer they were impressed with the upbeat spirit shown by vant relationship that tipping implies, I decided that someone the young people working at many of the restaurants featured on the tour has to take a stand and do something about it," he said "Even though we call it work," hospitality is a team sport, So, Meyer enacted the following steps at The Modem, and remarked Meyer, whose first business book. Setting the Table shortly thereafter at Maialino, a Roman trattoria at the Meyer (Harper Collins, 2006. was a New York Times bestseller. Itowned Gramercy Park Hotel: examines the power of warm and sincere hospitality in resta He gave all cooks a $2-per-hour raise and built a Career rants, business, and life. "If you think about what sports has in ladder for them. common with hospitality, you notice that ballplayers don't say Menu prices were adjusted upward by about 20 percent they're going to work today. They say they're going to play to and the policy was branded as "Hospitality Included win. That's all part of our approach to servant leadership. It's Guest receipts no longer had a tipping line. the belief that the power flows from the bottom up, not the top He announced the restaurant would share 13.5 percent of down," he said. its top-line revenues with all employees tipped and non- Lately, we've been challenging our teams to think about tipped workers. what it would be like if we had no prices for the food on the He unfurled the most comprehensive communications pro menu and the guest gets a check for how much they enjoyed the fram in company history, getting input and feedback from entire experience," Meyer continued. "That's not to diminish all employees, holding town hall meetings, and conduce the importance of food innovation, but if we take food out of ing one-on-ones with affected employees. He shared with the equation, how did we make the guest feel the employees what they would have made under the old tipping system and what they were making under the new Hospitality Included Meyer made headlines in 2015 with the institution of a "no- no-tipping policy tipping" policy at his restaurant The Modern at New York's The bottom line: Cooks were happier with the wage MoMA, and he planned to expand the policy to all his eateries increase and tipped employees were "kept whole, according by the end of 2016. A number of observations and personal to Meyer. Guests pay about the same. (Authors' note: Again, experiences over the past 20 years led Meyer to launch the many customers and tipped employees were not at all happy paradigm-changing policy on November 15, 2015. with the new plan.) Authors' note: In the following paragraphs, Meyer's no After Meyer introduced "Hospitality Included" at The tipping plan is discussed in detail to highlight the many issues Modem, at least eight other top chefs and restaurants in New involved. However, after just a short time, in 2016, Meyer York City have followed suit with similar po-tipping policies hocked off the no-lipping policy due to customer and employee Authors' note: The number of restaurants switching to a no dissatisfaction. It turned out that many customers wanted to tipping policy has been quite small. Nonetheless, one expert provide tips to ensure the best possible dining service, and the who has been a no-tipping critic, points out some downsides waitstaf wanted to cam the tips for giving customers their out in Figure 1. standing service.] "I travel around the world to learn about food, and the World-Class Service U.S.culture of tipping is unusual." Meyer relayed to the group. Even before the no-tipping experiment, Union Square Hospital- There's no tipping in Asia, and much less in Europe. Tipping came about in the U.S. because we wanted to be more like ity Group was renowned for its world-class customer service. The store retailers who participated in the 2016 poundtable Europe-150 years ago, when really rich people tipped the were interested in learning how Meyer's restaurants are able help. It was a power thing." to achieve such a superior level of service from the emplos A couple of years ago, the adjusted minimum wage for tipped employees in New York City became $7.50 per hour. The ees, and, perhaps more importantly, how practical is it to think National Restaurant Association intends to make sure no lee- convenience stores could achieve a superior level of customer islation changes that. Meyer, by the way, paid his waitstaff 89 service with many of its employees making minimum wage or just slightly higher? per hour at that time, S1.50 above the city minimum. [Authors me Today, there are ongoing legislative battles throughout In response, Meyer shared his hiring philosophy, which bentry about what the minimum wage hourly rate should is to hire people based on their emotional skills or by having be in the future.] what he calls a high "hospitality an d we don't view high labor costs as something happening to s he said FIGURE 1 PART 7. COMPREHENSIVE CASE 493 One restaurant ridic who originally supported as oping Point and counterpoint Reprinted by Convenience w Nows) 2016 Second thought originally supportedavisind is now having e end of Coping cerowiedres that New York Pour's Seve d er who has long called for concerns for the early to judge results, but he has som "Owners say customers will pay the same amount to reimburse pay the same amount as before because higher prices "But not so fas Diners wil work out to the amount t o wrote recen ners will be based on amount so points ou pet e ncy for those re who pledge to share revenues with employees in lieu of tips And he even sees problems for restaurant owners whose lease arra them to pay rent based on an d on pereare of revenue over a cerca "None of this means we should i nd of tipping concluded Gue a rotten practice of which are fond. But every re t ro take a long hard look before the demo a pool that not have a better Qurant owners whose lease arrangements require kuded Custo. "It's hins we are choosing to do. We feel that it actually her sales volume. Managers at Meyer's restaurants are ed to look for six "emotional skills when interview sential new hires. These skills (see Figure 2), with Meyer' commentary, are: Kindness & Optimism: "Skepties don't tend to thrive in the hospitality business." Curiosity: "Every day is an opportunity to learn something Work Ethic: "I can't teach you to care about doing things right." Empathy: "What kind of wake do you leave in your path as you go through life? Self-Awareness: "Do you know your own personal weather report Integrity: "The judgement to do the right thing even if it's not in your self-interest." In addition, Meyer offered some final words of wis- dom and encouragement to the foodservice executives. "The Smartphone has given people so many choices today. With jest the touch of their phone, they can communicate, get car service, get directions, and order food," he said, "About the only thing it doesn't do is cook food for you or fill your tank The restaurateur acknowledged what he calls "captive diminishing of the past. "There are a huge numero places to Today, if I'm eating excellent food ither channel of my life, why wouldn't I want that quality at every place I eat He recalled one of his first experiences with restaurant-quality food at a convenience store. "I was travel ing to Penn State University and had read that Sheetz actually cared about the food experience. It didn't disappoint. Clearly, Sheetz didn't view food as a captive audience experience." To the group of store retailers, Meyer said, "I've prob. ably done business with most of your companies before just traveling around the country, and I really admire what you are doing and how your industry is changing, and all of our indus tries are changing. There's more and more interest in food and how you make your place so much more than what it once was. I think it is a fascinating thing to grapple with. Based on what he's seen of convenience stores improved foodservice around the country, he concluded, "You guys are on the right track with foodservice, and people are not going to go back to accepting lower quality food at a gas station." Who Is Danny Meyer? Danny Meyer is CEO of New York-based Union Square Hos. pitality Group, which includes Union Square Cafe Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, Shake Shack, The Modem, FIGURE 2 The Hospitality Quotient Scare: Reprinted by Pension Convenience Store News (c) 2016 When interviewing potential new hires managers at all of Danny Meyer's restaurants are trained to look for six emotional skills These skills, according to Meyer, add up to what he calls having a high "hospitality quotient." The six skills are: Kindness & Optimism Empathy Curiosity Self-Awareness Work Ethic Integrity 494 PART 7. COMMUNICATING WITH THE CUSTOMER Maialino, Untitled, North End Grill, Marta, Union Square Events, and Hospitality Quotient, a learning and consulting Meyer was born and raised in St. Louis, worked for his father as a tour guide in Rome during college, and then returned to Rome to study international politics. After gradu- ating from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1980 with a degree in political science, he worked in Chicago for John Anderson's 1980 independent presidential campaign. He later gained his first restaurant experience in 1984 as an assis- tant manager at an Italian seafood restaurant in New York City. before returning to Europe to study cooking in both Italy and France. He opened his first restaurant, Union Square Cafe, in 1985 at age 27. An active national leader in the fight against hunger, Meyer has long served on the boards of Share Our Strength and City Harvest. He is equally active in civic affairs, serving on the boards of NYC & Co., Union Square Partnership, and the Madi- son Square Park Conservancy. Questions 1. Based on the information presented in this case, how would you describe ShakeShack's retail image? 2. How would you describe the store atmosphere that Shake Shack seeks to maintain 3. The Gramercy Tavern is more upscale than Shake Shack Explain how you would expect its retail strategy to differ 4. From a retail positioning point of view, what are the and cons of this statement: "Twenty percent of the menu every Shake Shack unit is localized, and none of the unit look the same." 5. As a restaurant patron, what would you think of a strategy that permits no tipping of the waitstaff? As a member of the waitstaff, what would you think? 6. Develop a five-point promotion mix plan for Shake Shack. Which factors would you include? Exclude? Why? 7. Visit the Shake Shack Web site (www.shakeshack.com) Where should this site fit in the chain's overall promotion mix? What functions does it perform? PART 7. COMPREHENSIVE CASE 491 PART 77 Comprehensive Case incide the Mind of Shake Shack's Founder introduction York City, Meyer decided to use the body and to examine Meyer is an extremely creative and proactive business and entrepreneur. He has demonstres career-especially with the introduction and expansion of wing Shake Shack chain Shake Shack almam burgers, hot dogs, crinkle cut fries, shakes from beer and wine. With its fresh and ich food, Shake Shack is a fun and lively gathering place with wide ad appeal Meyer's Basic Philosophy "People want the highest quality food, but they don't want the fancy experience anymore," said Day Meyer, the chees tive officer (CEO) of Union Square Hospitality Group and the founder of ShakeShack. According to Me, some d e saying, "We like our food better when it's a hole in the wall Union Square Hospitality Group's restaurant portfolio runs the gamut from such tony New York City eweries is the Gramercy Taver and The Modern at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), to the classy.casual barbecue Blue Smoke, to the fast-growing Shake Shack, which started as a hot dog stand in New York City's Madison Square Park and had grown to more than 90 locations worldwide by mid-2016. According to Shake Shack's Web site (www.shakeshack.com at that time, it had outlets in 15 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in four foreign countries and the Middle East. Danny Meyer was a special guest the 2016 Convenience Store News Foodservice Summit, held March 15-16, 2016, partnership with Tyson Convenience, where the participated in an interactive roundtable discussion with about a doven other leading foodhervice executives The trailblazing restaurateur noted that in his many travels around the world, the best croissant he's ever tasted was a gas station in Uniu. "People like to be surprised by highlow experiences like that 's a wonderful trend for you all he said gesting to the convenience foodservice retail executives and chefs gathered around the the Meyer, who restaurants and chefs have earned an un Read Awards, had breakfast with the con- venience store store retailers after they spent the day visiting unique food concepts throughout the Big Apple CSN 'Taste of Manhattan Tour, which included a top ShakeShack outlet,his barcosul hamburger bale We started Shake Shack as a hot dog eart in Madison Sewa Park in 2000. Meyer m e d relating how the cre- son of the fast-casual chain was great experiment in com hining capitalism with philanthropy Meyer, then spearheading the rehabilitation of Me Park, which had fallen into great disrepair, was asked vise the operation of a hot dog cart inside an art exhibit part of the park's renewal effort. Already operating fucy Selling Chicago bat desbot des topped with yel low muchopped e wish al le per to slices, cind peppers, and celery at the single food and became extremely successful drawing lines that bered m e than 100 people at a time. Four years later, the city asked Meyer to operate a permanent 30 foot by 30-foot kiosk is Madison Square Park. Interestingly, that original Shake Shack kiosk focused on milkshakes, no ca the hamburgers 1 had be idea it would become so famous for its burgers," said Meyer Every year, we had to the kitchen to increase e ce for buyers. In addition to burgers, the restaurants menu elded its eponymous shakes and French fries, and even 'Shroom Burger. Since the beginning. Meyer has wanted e rything ShakeShack to be able He eventually donated the original building which cont SI million to built to the park and c in e perate the Shake Shack unit as a tenant. The Madison Square Park location's sales come to today. During the s erie, the type cally reaches to outside the park and the wait time for service can be an hour or more. A Webcam on the Shack's homepage shows the length of the current line in real time for that location Unlike more agressive catrepreneur, Danny Meyer waited 5 years before opening a second ShakeShack, this time en Manhattan's Upper West Side ShakeShack is the first time we did anything for the second time,"commented Meyer whose other restaurare mainly sile n cio Although he eventually expanded Shake Shack to add tical locations in New York, as well as in Connecticut Washington, DC, Florida Georgia, Illinois, Maryland Massa chts, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania Texas, Meyer felt that it was important to make every location unique We're proud to be a chain, but who wrote the rule that every link in the chain has to be the same he asked Twenty percent of the every Shake Shack untis localired; and none of the units look the same, he noted, point ing to the seats at the New Haven, Connecticut Shake Shack that look like the seats at the city's historic Yale Bowl football stadium. Each ShakeShack unit al carries a wide selection of craft beers local to that particular area At the 2016 CSNews Foodservice Summit, Meyer had just returned from the grand opening of the first California Shake Shack in West Hollywood in Los Angeles. With international partners, Shake Shack also operates in was locales as Tokyo London Istanbul, Moscow, Beirut, Dual AbuDhabi Doha Kuwait City, Riyadh, and Jeddah Chick'n Shack Hatched As Shake Shack has expanded, so too has its me, leading to the recent introduction of the restaurant's first chicken sand- wich, the Chick'n Shackeakinless mainted chicken breast that arrives Vacuum-packed to the store and is then freshly bal tered and fried, and served with bleace, pickles, and a but termilk herb mayo informatii De La Madero MyC i Stow New May 2016, pp34-13. Reprinted Show 2016 by 492 PART 7. COMMUNICATING WITH THE CUSTOMER Ir's troubled me for the past 20 years. And now, the la The Chick'n Shack has been an immediate hit. "In Los 2 years, we are in the midst of the greatest labor crisis in Ne Angeles, we had our busiest opening day in our history." said York City history," he said. "The disparity between the wages Meyer, "and the chicken sandwich sold at 80 percent of the of tapped employees and non-tipped employees is huge. The beef burger." average tip in New York City is about 21 percent, which is great Al the Foodservice Summit, Meyer asked the c-store fortipped employees, but we can't find enough skilled cooks retailers to share what they saw and experienced during the to staff our kitchens. Taste of Manhattan tour. He apreed with them that the cateries Meyer reached his own personal tipping point, so to speak on the tour illustrated many of the key trends in the foodser when he found out that he had more Culinary Institute of Amer vice sector, such as the popularity of local, fresh ingredients: isa trained chefs working for him as servers than working in the importance of being authentic and the opportunity to Kitchens because they couldn't make enough money as cool "make food be theater. Several of the retailer sendes told "Because of that, and the fact that I never liked the master Meyer they were impressed with the upbeat spirit shown by vant relationship that tipping implies, I decided that someone the young people working at many of the restaurants featured on the tour has to take a stand and do something about it," he said "Even though we call it work," hospitality is a team sport, So, Meyer enacted the following steps at The Modem, and remarked Meyer, whose first business book. Setting the Table shortly thereafter at Maialino, a Roman trattoria at the Meyer (Harper Collins, 2006. was a New York Times bestseller. Itowned Gramercy Park Hotel: examines the power of warm and sincere hospitality in resta He gave all cooks a $2-per-hour raise and built a Career rants, business, and life. "If you think about what sports has in ladder for them. common with hospitality, you notice that ballplayers don't say Menu prices were adjusted upward by about 20 percent they're going to work today. They say they're going to play to and the policy was branded as "Hospitality Included win. That's all part of our approach to servant leadership. It's Guest receipts no longer had a tipping line. the belief that the power flows from the bottom up, not the top He announced the restaurant would share 13.5 percent of down," he said. its top-line revenues with all employees tipped and non- Lately, we've been challenging our teams to think about tipped workers. what it would be like if we had no prices for the food on the He unfurled the most comprehensive communications pro menu and the guest gets a check for how much they enjoyed the fram in company history, getting input and feedback from entire experience," Meyer continued. "That's not to diminish all employees, holding town hall meetings, and conduce the importance of food innovation, but if we take food out of ing one-on-ones with affected employees. He shared with the equation, how did we make the guest feel the employees what they would have made under the old tipping system and what they were making under the new Hospitality Included Meyer made headlines in 2015 with the institution of a "no- no-tipping policy tipping" policy at his restaurant The Modern at New York's The bottom line: Cooks were happier with the wage MoMA, and he planned to expand the policy to all his eateries increase and tipped employees were "kept whole, according by the end of 2016. A number of observations and personal to Meyer. Guests pay about the same. (Authors' note: Again, experiences over the past 20 years led Meyer to launch the many customers and tipped employees were not at all happy paradigm-changing policy on November 15, 2015. with the new plan.) Authors' note: In the following paragraphs, Meyer's no After Meyer introduced "Hospitality Included" at The tipping plan is discussed in detail to highlight the many issues Modem, at least eight other top chefs and restaurants in New involved. However, after just a short time, in 2016, Meyer York City have followed suit with similar po-tipping policies hocked off the no-lipping policy due to customer and employee Authors' note: The number of restaurants switching to a no dissatisfaction. It turned out that many customers wanted to tipping policy has been quite small. Nonetheless, one expert provide tips to ensure the best possible dining service, and the who has been a no-tipping critic, points out some downsides waitstaf wanted to cam the tips for giving customers their out in Figure 1. standing service.] "I travel around the world to learn about food, and the World-Class Service U.S.culture of tipping is unusual." Meyer relayed to the group. Even before the no-tipping experiment, Union Square Hospital- There's no tipping in Asia, and much less in Europe. Tipping came about in the U.S. because we wanted to be more like ity Group was renowned for its world-class customer service. The store retailers who participated in the 2016 poundtable Europe-150 years ago, when really rich people tipped the were interested in learning how Meyer's restaurants are able help. It was a power thing." to achieve such a superior level of service from the emplos A couple of years ago, the adjusted minimum wage for tipped employees in New York City became $7.50 per hour. The ees, and, perhaps more importantly, how practical is it to think National Restaurant Association intends to make sure no lee- convenience stores could achieve a superior level of customer islation changes that. Meyer, by the way, paid his waitstaff 89 service with many of its employees making minimum wage or just slightly higher? per hour at that time, S1.50 above the city minimum. [Authors me Today, there are ongoing legislative battles throughout In response, Meyer shared his hiring philosophy, which bentry about what the minimum wage hourly rate should is to hire people based on their emotional skills or by having be in the future.] what he calls a high "hospitality an d we don't view high labor costs as something happening to s he said FIGURE 1 PART 7. COMPREHENSIVE CASE 493 One restaurant ridic who originally supported as oping Point and counterpoint Reprinted by Convenience w Nows) 2016 Second thought originally supportedavisind is now having e end of Coping cerowiedres that New York Pour's Seve d er who has long called for concerns for the early to judge results, but he has som "Owners say customers will pay the same amount to reimburse pay the same amount as before because higher prices "But not so fas Diners wil work out to the amount t o wrote recen ners will be based on amount so points ou pet e ncy for those re who pledge to share revenues with employees in lieu of tips And he even sees problems for restaurant owners whose lease arra them to pay rent based on an d on pereare of revenue over a cerca "None of this means we should i nd of tipping concluded Gue a rotten practice of which are fond. But every re t ro take a long hard look before the demo a pool that not have a better Qurant owners whose lease arrangements require kuded Custo. "It's hins we are choosing to do. We feel that it actually her sales volume. Managers at Meyer's restaurants are ed to look for six "emotional skills when interview sential new hires. These skills (see Figure 2), with Meyer' commentary, are: Kindness & Optimism: "Skepties don't tend to thrive in the hospitality business." Curiosity: "Every day is an opportunity to learn something Work Ethic: "I can't teach you to care about doing things right." Empathy: "What kind of wake do you leave in your path as you go through life? Self-Awareness: "Do you know your own personal weather report Integrity: "The judgement to do the right thing even if it's not in your self-interest." In addition, Meyer offered some final words of wis- dom and encouragement to the foodservice executives. "The Smartphone has given people so many choices today. With jest the touch of their phone, they can communicate, get car service, get directions, and order food," he said, "About the only thing it doesn't do is cook food for you or fill your tank The restaurateur acknowledged what he calls "captive diminishing of the past. "There are a huge numero places to Today, if I'm eating excellent food ither channel of my life, why wouldn't I want that quality at every place I eat He recalled one of his first experiences with restaurant-quality food at a convenience store. "I was travel ing to Penn State University and had read that Sheetz actually cared about the food experience. It didn't disappoint. Clearly, Sheetz didn't view food as a captive audience experience." To the group of store retailers, Meyer said, "I've prob. ably done business with most of your companies before just traveling around the country, and I really admire what you are doing and how your industry is changing, and all of our indus tries are changing. There's more and more interest in food and how you make your place so much more than what it once was. I think it is a fascinating thing to grapple with. Based on what he's seen of convenience stores improved foodservice around the country, he concluded, "You guys are on the right track with foodservice, and people are not going to go back to accepting lower quality food at a gas station." Who Is Danny Meyer? Danny Meyer is CEO of New York-based Union Square Hos. pitality Group, which includes Union Square Cafe Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, Shake Shack, The Modem, FIGURE 2 The Hospitality Quotient Scare: Reprinted by Pension Convenience Store News (c) 2016 When interviewing potential new hires managers at all of Danny Meyer's restaurants are trained to look for six emotional skills These skills, according to Meyer, add up to what he calls having a high "hospitality quotient." The six skills are: Kindness & Optimism Empathy Curiosity Self-Awareness Work Ethic Integrity 494 PART 7. COMMUNICATING WITH THE CUSTOMER Maialino, Untitled, North End Grill, Marta, Union Square Events, and Hospitality Quotient, a learning and consulting Meyer was born and raised in St. Louis, worked for his father as a tour guide in Rome during college, and then returned to Rome to study international politics. After gradu- ating from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1980 with a degree in political science, he worked in Chicago for John Anderson's 1980 independent presidential campaign. He later gained his first restaurant experience in 1984 as an assis- tant manager at an Italian seafood restaurant in New York City. before returning to Europe to study cooking in both Italy and France. He opened his first restaurant, Union Square Cafe, in 1985 at age 27. An active national leader in the fight against hunger, Meyer has long served on the boards of Share Our Strength and City Harvest. He is equally active in civic affairs, serving on the boards of NYC & Co., Union Square Partnership, and the Madi- son Square Park Conservancy. Questions 1. Based on the information presented in this case, how would you describe ShakeShack's retail image? 2. How would you describe the store atmosphere that Shake Shack seeks to maintain 3. The Gramercy Tavern is more upscale than Shake Shack Explain how you would expect its retail strategy to differ 4. From a retail positioning point of view, what are the and cons of this statement: "Twenty percent of the menu every Shake Shack unit is localized, and none of the unit look the same." 5. As a restaurant patron, what would you think of a strategy that permits no tipping of the waitstaff? As a member of the waitstaff, what would you think? 6. Develop a five-point promotion mix plan for Shake Shack. Which factors would you include? Exclude? Why? 7. Visit the Shake Shack Web site (www.shakeshack.com) Where should this site fit in the chain's overall promotion mix? What functions does it perform