Cornell

"Champagne cocktails: A glass of champagne cannot be improved upon by adding fruit purée, sherbet around the rim, or an indoor sparkler, and then charging £15 plus 15% service for the privilege. All these things, and the ones that you add, form part of a wider economic question. To what extent are our wants and desires shaped contextually by the lifestyles of those around us, rather than by any absolute need? As Robert H. Frank, professor of economics at Cornell, asserts: “Local context shapes perception of quality, the demand for which knows no limits.” Or, in layman’s language: “When you’re surrounded by rich gits, it’s hard not to act like a bit of a git yourself.” When just a few of those gits lose their jobs, the rest of us, perversely, may become a lot better off."

"One day at Tabla a woman walked in for lunch and realized that she had left her wallet in the taxi. A summer intern from Cornell was working at the front desk that day and did his best to comfort the shaken woman, reassuring her that we’d of course extend her credit, and urging her to relax and enjoy lunch. That was good, but I thought we could do even better. I got Tabla’s general manager, Randy Garutti, involved. “Randy,” I said, “this woman is going to tell the whole world that she left her wallet in a taxi while she was on her way to Tabla. I know we can create a legend out of this somehow.” I didn’t give Randy a script to follow. But he knew exactly what I meant by creating a legend. He spoke to the woman and learned that she had also left her cell phone in the cab. He immediately had a staff member start calling her cell phone number. Meanwhile, the woman was seated, her friend arrived, and they ordered lunch. After half an hour of persistent redials, a man’s voice finally answered her phone. It was the taxi driver, who was by now way up in the Bronx. He confirmed that he had the wallet in his car too. Unbeknownst to the woman, we sent a staff member uptown to meet the driver and retrieve the wallet and cell phone, both of which were in her hands before the check for lunch was on the table. She was amazed and obviously delighted. We had turned a nightmare into a legend of hospitality. Our round-trip taxi ride had cost $31. I’d be surprised if the woman hasn’t already given Tabla 100 times that value in positive word-of-mouth."