Tabla

"I will throw myself into a new venture only when certain criteria are met: I am passionate about the subject matter (i.e., early American folk antiques, modern art, jazz, barbecue). I know I will derive some combination of challenge, satisfaction, and pleasure from the venture. It presents meaningful opportunities for professional growth for my colleagues and me. The new business will add something to the dialogue in a specific context, such as luxury dining (Gramercy Tavern), museum dining (The Modern, Cafe 2, and Terrace 5 at the Museum of Modern Art), Indian dining (Tabla), barbecue (Blue Smoke), or burgers and frozen custard (Shake Shack). Financial projections indicate the possibility of sufficient profit and returns on our investment to warrant the risk we’re undertaking."

"The restaurants and other businesses I have opened in New York City—Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, Tabla, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, Shake Shack, The Modern, Cafe 2, and Terrace 5 (our cafés for visitors within the Museum of Modern Art), plus Hudson Yards Catering—were all conceived and are all driven by a passion to add something new and compelling to what I call a dialogue between what already exists and what could be."

"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."