Didn’t see another thread on this.
Info posted yesterday.
It was destined to happen.
Perhaps could could clarify why you know it was destined to happen?
When Daniel first came to NY he barely spoke English. (The reason they named their company make it nice is that’s about all he knew to say in English when he arrived). Also he didn’t know American culture well. He was ambitious. To achieve his goals he needed someone who could help him speak and help write and edit his book he wanted to do. He needed help communicating with the staff and on and on and on. Will was there and was very capable—the perfect person to help him. But at a certain point Daniel acquired the knowledge fluency and skills he needed. So why should he share both control and profits with someone else? Without Daniel there is no Make It Nice. Not to detract from Will but he’s not essential for the company. There are 1,000 Will’s in a sense
So this day was bound to happen sooner or later. And happen it did.
great analysis Wilfred.
It will be interesting to see what happens now. I don’t know too many Chefs that can understand the business side.
I have only been to EMP two times, with each a memorable and wonderful experience. Food, service, atmosphere - all fantastic.
Daniel Humm was gracious and kind, even providing a short tour of the kitchen for me and my teenage kids on a busy Saturday evening.
I look forward to returning some day.
This one can.
Btw Will doesn’t have a background or degree in business. His degree is in hospitality and hotel management from Cornell. It’s not a business degree.
Part of the charm of EMP was its hospitality
It will be a fascinating experiment to see which person is more important. The Chef or the Hospitality Guy.
Wilfred,
While obviously the chef is the most important component of a restaurant, I think you are undervaluing the importance of the FoH personnel. I don’t think EMP becomes “EMP” without Will the same way I don’t think Marea becomes “Marea” without Rocky.
I know several people whose connection with EMP is Will, not Daniel. Will they still dine at EMP? Probably, but I would also bet they become more regular diners at Will’s new venture(s) on the assumption he has a good/great chef working with him.
Btw Will doesn’t have a background or degree in business. His degree is in hospitality and hotel management from Cornell. It’s not a business degree.
Cornell is the #1 Hospitality & Tourism management degree in the United States. If I need somebody to run my restaurant I am taking that degree over a general business degree from another school.
Danny Meyers net worth is estimated to be $400mm. Chef Thomas Keller is estimated to be $30mm.
I have no idea what happened but my guess is that Will wanted to follow the trend of what is working in the restaurant world today which is higher volume, lower cost and not fine dining. The reason why Danny Meyer essentially gave Eleven Madison Park away.
Fine dining is for the artist who wants to make a living. Perhaps a really good living, but at least a nice monetary return for the artistic creations.
Mass dining with low margins that can be multiplied out is the place to make significant money and likely safer. High end creative chefs don’t like that. Business oriented people love it.
You guys are assuming Daniel doesn’t have knowledge and sensitivity to FOH issues or hospitality. I believe that’s in error.
I adore Will and regard him as a good friend. But who had the idea of the card trick? Will. Who had the idea of the one word menu cards? Will. There are other examples. For all his strengths Will had some colossal misses.
Just because he’s a chef you guys I believe are making two key errors in reasoning:
That Daniel doesn’t have sufficient awareness or sensitivity to ensure top FOH and hospitality and
That Daniel can’t hire someone on salary (as Will was, remember, for quite some time) to also create a great FOH experience with wonderful hospitality. Remember hospitality existed long before Will was hired.
Say what you will. The scenario played out exactly as I had anticipated. Hard to argue with that.
Wilfred. Thanks for the info
This! Our FOH Operating Partner (for Le Pigeon, Little Bird and Canard) is a graduate of the Cornell program and has great hospitality management knowledge and is an outstanding business person. Without his business skills, we would not be where we are today.
I guess we won’t know until more details are divulged about what each wanted and why exactly they split, but at this point that sounds very speculative to me about Will Guidara’s wants, or at least grossly simplifying what’s likely a complicated situation, even if it does turn out to be true.
Even if Danny Meyer “gave away” EMP to DH/WG, Danny Meyer still has a prominent stake in lower volume/higher cost fine dining; places like the Modern, Maialino are much closer to EMP in style, feel and ambition (and wine lists) than they are to Shake Shack. You make it sound like he left fine dining completely when I know you know that’s not the case.
I don’t think the above posts were assuming that Daniel Humm had no understanding of FOH issues/hospitality. I think the umbrage was against what you were posting, that made it seem like Daniel Humm was the only essential part of their partnership and that Will Guidara was a fungible/replaceable piece, used for a time and then discarded when convenient. That’s frankly insulting to the complexity and difficulty of what they accomplished as a team/pair, IMO, and parts of what you write seem to be more arrogant than anything (“the scenario played out exactly as I had anticipated” – OK, here’s a cookie, perhaps milk and honey :p, for you…).
For what it’s worth, I’ve never been to EMP, and have never met either personally. I only know that in multiple visits to the Nomad in LA and a couple to the ones in Vegas and NY, what struck me most wasn’t the food (which sometimes was refined and creative, other times wildly inconsistent and pedestrian), but instead what lingered in my memory was the quality of the service, and the uniqueness of things like the style, ambiance, cocktails/drinks and wine lists. We stayed at the Nomad for a special occasion and had several very special meals there, and the staff gave us exceptional service even when we presented difficult situations (larger party walking in late at night, etc.). I know of at least one other board member who had a very special personal event in his life that the staff at the Nomad were very generous in accommodating. It’s those types of things that make me respect and frankly love the brand of hospitality that Will Guidara really cared about, and why I’ll look forward to following what he does in the future with great interest.