Michael Romano

"We aim to hire people who possess an emotional skill that chef Michael Romano calls the excellence reflex. People duck as a natural reflex when something is hurled at them. Similarly, the excellence reflex is a natural reaction to fix something that isn’t right, or to improve something that could be better. The excellence reflex is rooted in instinct and upbringing, and then constantly honed through awareness, caring, and practice. The overarching concern to do the right thing well is something we can’t train for. Either it’s there or it isn’t. So we need to train how to hire for"

"Our senior vice president of operations, Richard Coraine, is my secret weapon for assessing whether we can actually execute a plan. He knows what it takes to make things work at the level of excellence expected from us. Our culinary senior vice president, Michael Romano, who excels at carefully figuring out the specifics of any recipe, helps to stop a half-baked plan, contributes essential know-how to…"