YouSaid · the spoken record

Dan Kluger

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79
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2018-11-13
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2018-11-13
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  1. “When am I happiest When I'm here, I'm happiest when Created a great experience for a guest, an employee that would say thank you for cooking next to me. Or I'm really excited I got to work on that today. Or that was a great event, whatever it is, getting that interaction or a server coming over and saying, I love waiting on your friends or I loved waiting on that table. I think those things certainly make me happy. And I think obviously the instant gratification of somebody saying, wow, that was the best blah, blah, blah. Or I got to tell you, you know, this is my fourth visit here, and each time it gets better, something like that. And then I think what I'm not here, it's when I'm able to kind of just turn off and be with my family and not have this constant hamster wheel running in the back of my mind.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  2. “Meanwhile, you can't stop what you're doing. You have to keep pushing forward, spending money to train and recipe test and to get ready to open. And when you open, you open. And at that point, it's, again, now the focus is like, I got to move away from all that negative. I got to go back to being positive. And I got to worry about the reviews, but I can't worry too much about the review. It's all like, I think a big head game.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  3. “Ultimately, it's one person's opinion, but it does make a difference. So I think that was the hardest thing for this. I think just getting the doors open, that whole struggle of, I mean, the construction was a beast. It just felt like we would never get open, couldn't get inspections, couldn't get gas, couldn't get construction finished up, you name it. And all the while I literally just see that, you know, proverbial bank account going lower and lower and lower. And it's like negative balance every day.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  4. “I think both. I mean, I think, you know. Had plenty of chatter and we had plenty of press, but the reviews that theoretically matter, and I'm not even sure how much they matter today given the new landscape of social media and blogs and so many other things out there. I mean, you have a social media influencer with a million followers. I would be interested to see the difference between that and the The amount of subscribers that looked at XYZ magazine. I mean, it just again hard to balance. But I do think they help to drive traffic. They help to give a little bit of sense of not meaning, but sort of recognition. You worked really hard and here's a stamp of approval or in some cases a stamp of disapproval.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  5. “An amazing halibut. Nobody talked about the halibut, or whatever the case was. You're sort of just judged on, again, when you're a restaurant that has 40-something items, you're judged on like 10 of them. It can be hard to stomach those opinions. And I think ultimately, again, we were very happy, and I think the staff was happy. But I think it was certainly the hardest time in my life in terms of really trying to stay focused and again go back to I care about them, but I don't care about them. I'm doing what I believe in. I'm cooking from the heart and I'm building something that the team that's here wants to be part of. And wherever the chips fall, they fall. So trying to have that mentality, but then also saying, yeah, but they still matter. So, you know, got to always keep that in mind. And it's just a struggle.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  6. “Your score is only based on five questions that you don't know about, like you take a test with, I don't know, 200 questions in it and only five of them mattered, but you don't know which five they are. So for years, we worked so hard through this process of reviews. I mean, it's, I think, almost five months, changed the menu multiple times. I mean, really, we're working hard at fine-tuning everything. And ultimately, the reviews were based on a handful of dishes. And we've gotten good reviews, and I can't complain about that. But there's a feeling of, well, why do we work so hard to have an amazing broccoli? Nobody talked about the broccoli. Why do we work so hard to have”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  7. “I mean, I don't know if anything I would say was scary or felt failure. I think the hardest thing is the review process because Parview wants to just say I'm doing what I believe in and screw everybody else. Now the other part of you says, okay, well, these guys unfortunately matter, right? People are paying attention to them. And it becomes kind of this struggle of what we're always trying to be perfect, whether you're a viewer or not, because we don't necessarily know who it is. We're always trying to be perfect, and we always want the service to be right and the food to be right, so it doesn't matter, and then at that same token, this feeling of Okay, you're getting judged. It would be like, It would be like going to take your SATs and”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  8. “I mean Costs are different. And this isn't a nonprofit. You know, not doing this to get rich, but I'm also not doing it to be nonprofit. I have investors to pay back. I have. Friends and family to pay back, and so do my fellow chefs, restaurateurs, managers who have gone out to do the same thing. And we were all griping about the same thing in some form or another. We're in the same boat.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  9. “Cook at McDonald's is not necessarily have the same thing. So there's a lot of things, I think, in this industry that are getting harder and harder. And I think we'll see more shifts in some form or another, either more restaurants closing than we want or prices going up even more and people eating out less. I'm not sure what it's going to be yet.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  10. “There's a lot of, again, sort of trying to compare apples to apples. So it's probably a whole nother podcast. But if you think about Worker Local diner, a server at a local diner, and what they make versus a server here, that's not apples to apples. You can't just group them as servers. If you think of a cook at McDonald's and a cook here, They can't be grouped as apples to apples. And we're kind of forcing ourselves to do that. A cook at a restaurant like this has $50,000 in school loans to pay off between college and culinary school on average”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  11. “Everything from the costs of goods to the cost of labor to insurance. I mean, this year alone, the cost of labor went up drastically. Cost of insurance went up drastically. Cost of goods have gone up a marginal amount, but we're not doing. Not doing a couple hundred thousand dollars a year in purchases, we do a substantial amount. So you had 10% onto it. It's a very big number. You add in the increase in minimum wage, which I totally respect and understand, but it is a substantial difference. If I was driving around in a Lamborghini, I could understand saying that this is an unfair variance. That's not the case. I think all these things are important for us to look at and understand and the right cost of living is valid and fair.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  12. “Yeah, I mean, pretty much everything is some kind of cost plus, which calculates in your labor and your rent and all those things. Again, I think talking about what the customers realize or don't realize, I mean, restaurants in general, it's a very costly business. And it's getting even harder and harder and harder.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  13. “Yeah. I mean, I would say if somebody doesn't like something, I'd rather them not like it because it's not their taste than for them to not like it because it didn't meet the expectation of another restaurant they went to or something they'd heard or they think it's too expensive. Again, it's really hard to say that these restaurants are apples to apples. I look at prices of other restaurants and I'll say, oh, well, their duck is the same price of ours or their duck is $3 more or whatever. It's not fair for me to even judge that because I don't know what goes into it. I have an idea of what they're buying, but I don't know what goes into it. They could have a process that raises the price 200%. So again, I think it's very easy for us to just say, well, to just try and compare.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  14. “It's somebody's time. That's something we want to do. That's something we believe in. But you won't see that on most occasions. You're not going to pay attention to that. So again, those little things that get taken for granted.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  15. “Again, I think that that can be taken for granted. People don't realize how much goes into it. And I think in general, restaurants work very hard at trying to create good experiences and try and source properly and all those things. And I think there's a lot of restaurants that don't, and not in a negative way. It's just, again, mean to end. It's not what they want to do. And I think. Very easy to. Try and group apples to apples, and it's not so easy in the restaurant business. I mean, if you think about your wine experience here, That's an extra step. It costs some money in some form or other. It slows things down.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  16. “Because to me, it was part of sourcing the right product and making the best thing that I could. And I think by doing that, it has a slightly nicer flavor. I think there's an overall benefit to it. And so to me, that was one of those attention details, those one of those steps that we would take as part of the business. And so I think if you just try and compare apples to apples, well, I had a pizza at another restaurant and it was $2 less You can't necessarily do that using so many products from local farmers sending a guy to the farmer's market and paying him to walk around the farmer's market for two hours collecting vegetables and the best strawberries he can get and the best herbs and then paying for an Uber to bring it over here and then unpack everything. I mean be so much easier to have everything just shipped to the door, but that's not what we want to do.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  17. “I mean, I think some of that attention detail is taken for granted. I think the sourcing. Everything that goes into Everything we do, I think, is often not understood or maybe taken for granted. I mean, the pizzas, the bread Pastas, we mill almost all the flour in house using grains from local farmers.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  18. “Again, these are all parts of the transaction. And just like the first impression of when you walk in the door, how you're greeted, all those things, then how do you get to the bar? Then how do you get to your table? All those parts of the experience are part of the transaction. So, I mean, it's certainly not beneficial if the state comes out or the burger comes out improperly cooked or the pizza doesn't have on it what's supposed to have on it or the salad doesn't have what's supposed to have, right? All those things would be detrimental to the experience. So same thing with the wine.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  19. “See that it's made right because if there's nothing worse than if you are excited about this bottle of wine and it comes to your table and it's corked, that transaction now of saying, I don't like it makes an uncomfortable experience for the guest. So we should try and catch that beforehand. And sometimes maybe we don't, or sometimes we might not agree with your perception, but ultimately if you're not happy, then we want you to be happy and we take it away. But I do think it's really important to try and capture that ahead of time because”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  20. “I mean, I think that is common, but maybe because the wine station is sort of front and center, you see it. I think it's important. I mean, with the kitchens are the same thing. We have checkpoints or what we would call lines of defense. When it's made, it's tasted, it's checked, it's signed off on. When it comes up to the station, its taste is checked, it's signed off on. When it's in the window, it's checked and it's signed off on. And so you kind of have to do the same thing with the beverages, the wine. You'll see the bartenders mix up a cocktail and then put a straw on and take the straw. Obviously not sipping off the cocktail, but sipping it from the side.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  21. “Think especially in New York, you have to be flexible with that and you have to understand that people are going to want different things out of that experience. And essentially, I have no problem giving that to them.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  22. “I want them to experience essentially whatever they want because it's like what I said to you it's a means to an end I mean if I go out with my kids for the most part I just want to eat and get out I want to feed us all I want to have something that I am excited that I spent the money on I had a great bottle of wine I had wonderful service They understood that I was with two kids that were not going to have a long attention span. They helped me make something special for them, but I got great food real restaurant food in the setting that I wanted. So I see the need for that. I also, you know, the odd occasion that I do date nights, I don't want to screw with that. I want to be able to take my time and relax. And so we try and read that as well and understand, you know, is this a business meeting? Is it an occasion? And how do we alter the experience for that? Do we go fast? Do we go slow? So ultimately,”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  23. “Kind of were adamant that this wasn't going to be country club food and Tom Clicko was the consulting chef. He hired me for it. And so we said it's not going to be country club food. We're going to do a real restaurant. And we did. And then because of demand, we started to see the need for the entree salads and turkey club and all those kind of things. I said, fine, I have no problem doing it. But the chickens for the salad are going to be organic chickens from a small farmer that we roast and we pick it and we marinate it. And it's going to be amazing greens and all these different things. And the turkey club is going to be like the best turkey club using turkey that we roast every day. And I think it pays off in the long run. Again, that's not groundbreaking. People are doing that everywhere now. But I think at that point in time, it was a little bit of a challenge. People kind of, they wanted their more deliation of the turkey club. And they didn't really.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  24. “Yeah, I mean, Few every night. And it's a challenge, but it's actually. I don't mind it by any means. I mean, we do a veggie burger at lunch that over the years, I've kind of done a veggie burger for years and years now, and every restaurant's obviously a little bit different in this last version. We've made it gluten-free, and now we've done a dairy-free bun and a vegan mayo. So, thinking about how do you cater to those needs and how do we make it even better than it was before? My whole thing is I don't have a problem sort of catering to the needs, but if I'm going to do it, then I got to do it my way and just make it better than what the perception would have been. And this goes back from even, I guess as far back as the court club when...”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  25. “I don't know. I don't think I don't feel like we get that many. I think in part because the menu is so vast and so easily flexible. I mean, gluten-free dairy, so many things on the menu that you can choose from. So a little variation is no big deal, which I think the weirdest thing I've been asked.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  26. “Yeah. And again, I pack my day kind of snacking and nonstop. So I try and take about 10 minutes at some point just to do one thing for myself that's healthy and smart in that respect.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  27. “I don't have any. I love all of them equally, just like my children. I don't know. It really depends on what mood I'm in. I certainly can never pass on a piece of pizza. I can almost never pass on a French fry.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  28. “Yeah, I mean, my days have changed a little bit. I now live in the suburbs, so the commute has kind of helped with the winding down. I'm a lot better today at kind of turning off. I start somewhere between 11 and 12, depending on what's going on, work all day, and then again, depending on how crazy it is, I'll be here. To about 11 sometimes on the weekends a little bit later, I try and take two days off and typically I try and take Saturday Sunday off, but sort of find myself in between a five day and a six day and working Saturdays and then the next week taking the two days off. I finish here typically around 11, 12, and then it's about 45 minutes hour commute home. So I wind down and then get home, do some emails, kind of review things from the day, go to bed, wake up around 6.30. Some more emails, go to the gym, and come here.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  29. “I think the other, I don't know if it's a misperception, but again, I think those. Those books and That sort of like mentality is that we're all partying rock stars. And again, I don't think that's necessarily the case. I think there's plenty of people that are doing that, but I think there's plenty of us that after work, we're not going out and drinking until 4 o'clock in the morning and we're just going home and going to bed and waking up and doing all of it again the next day.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  30. “I don't know. I think Probably a bunch out there today. Obviously, one is that we all eat very well. I think most of us on our days off don't really want to do too much cooking. I think Because of the. Top chef Gordon Ramsey, all those kind of things. I think the perceptions that we all scream and curse and throw things. I mean, do I curse? Yes. I try not to curse in general. I try not to curse around my kids. But once in a while, I call them a smart ass. And that sends his message to them. It's sort of the same thing here. Again, fairly black and white in terms of the expectation. And so when we have to look in between the lines, it's somewhat acceptable in my book to act a little differently, if that makes sense.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  31. “You're brand new on the station. I have to expect that you're going to burn some things. And so then that means that we got to do a better job training you. A lot of it comes down to training as well, you know, trying to take a step back. We're just talking about this five minutes ago that somebody that we're looking to hire, where do we put them? What do we do with him? My whole thing now is being really cautious about not setting somebody up for failure. And I mean, obviously that should be plain and simple. Nobody wants to do that. But it's harder and harder to find really great staff. So I'd rather struggle a little bit taking a step back than to just think that we have this amazing new band aid. And the reality is it's going to bite us in the ass later on.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  32. “I mean, I think it's the same thing with everything else in life, right? I mean, think about your kids, certain things that your expectations are very black and white. You brush your teeth in the morning, you get dressed in the morning, you clean up your room in the morning, you eat dinner at night, you go to bed at night. And that's black and white, but there's always things in between that make it a little bit gray. So I think we kind of look at it the same way that if you burn something, that's pretty black and white. Have to look at Why is there any reason behind it before we react?”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  33. “We're not just going to yell at you and throw some at you. We're going to take the time. We're going to sit down. We're going to tell you what's going on. Here are things you need to improve on. Here are things that I'm sorry. Like I'm not even going to mention again that you just need to figure this out yourself.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  34. “I think certainly I've matured. I think the people around me have matured. I think I have more on the line today than I ever have. But so you'd think that it would be the opposite. I'd be even more high strung about it. I think ultimately, you know, we've all started to realize that It's just not the way to go. And that adage of you get more bees with honey than vinegar, it's really the same sort of thing. I mean, being in a pissy mood is not going to necessarily get anybody anywhere. Do a lot of coaching. We spend a lot of time coaching people and sitting people down and talking about performance. And I think that sends a serious message that this isn't just a”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  35. “Let me do a couple different things. I mean, for one, For one, we try and communicate through a lineup at the end of the night. Hey, these things didn't go right. Whether it becomes one on one with one specific person, but most of the time it's a team thing. And then we do a lot sort of on the back end with all the managers with recaps so that the next morning whoever's opening that wasn't here knows that the three things that were significant problems are all picked up first thing in the morning. So 7.30, 8 o'clock in the morning, those things are going to be addressed. So hopefully come 5 o'clock the next day. Whatever that issue was is not an issue again today. We really are trying to do a lot of that. Ultimately, we want to get better. We want to smooth things out. But I can tell you that there is a lot less today of the kicking and screaming and throwing things because something didn't go right. Nothing's really worth it.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  36. “Which, you know, again, going back to that no day is ever the same, we have a lot of systems in place and we have an amazing team that then looks and says, okay, it's 530 and we still need X, Y, and Z. Okay, I'm going to keep this person to do this. I'm going to do this myself. And I'm going to give these three things up to these other people because we know that, especially on a Friday or Saturday, whatever night of the week, really, if at 5.30 you're not ready, it's going to be downhill for not just that one person, but for everybody around them.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  37. “It is a haul all night long. You know, you can never get out from underneath it. And then we've had nights where it seems incredibly busy and you look at the number at the end and you turn around and say, I would have thought this was like 100 less covers. It was so easy. And a lot of that is just if the rhythm just keeps working and working and working.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  38. “It's hard to get a reservation, and it really is, I mean, we're seeing more than ever, I think, a huge shift in tables just not showing up, canceling five minutes before people showing up late and then wondering why they can't be sat. It happened last night. I'm so tempted to just say, when's the last time you were late for a flight? Never. I mean, you didn't get on that flight if you were. Yet I'm going to hold the seat for you. I'm going to lose a transaction to somebody who's actually waiting in the hopes that you're going to show up. So again, all those things are to say that we've had nights where it's slow and it is just.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  39. “Again, something happens with the table. We're really, I think the industry is in an interesting space right now in terms of that sort of thing. People kind of losing sight of, as we talked about earlier, it's a transaction. If you have tickets to Hamilton, you're going to go. And if you have strep throat and you don't feel well, you're going to find a way to either go or sell the tickets off. I certainly don't advocate selling a reservation, and I don't advocate coming in sick.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  40. “People and you're four people, you'd think that those things don't really matter, but they actually have a huge impact on what we're doing. And so again, there's so many factors, but assuming that things are falling into place, we really just kind of going up and down and up and down and call out a ticket and you fire four things and everybody says, great, eight minutes will be in the window. And now assuming that they're communicating properly, eight minutes later, everything goes in the window and somewhere in between that eight minutes you're firing the next group and literally is just up and down, up and down, up and down. But it doesn't take much to throw a wrench in things. You burn something, you run out of something.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  41. “Somebody's having a bad day. They have a cold. They can't hear you properly. The dining room is just really boisterous and loud tonight and it's seeping into the kitchen and it's interfering. All those little things can play a factor in how we're communicating with each other. But assuming everybody's prepared, which is as simple as having all the herbs you need and having all the lettuce you need and having the ducts ready and all those things or not. Basically just having constant communication, it's a rhythm. I mean, you talk about the peaks and values of the food, the rhythm of the kitchen is very much same thing. It's up and down, it's up and down. And so again, there's so many factors. How is it going in the front of the house? Did you show up on time for your reservation? Were you late for your reservation? Were you supposed to be four people and you're six people? Were you supposed to be”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  42. “A lot of it comes down to being prepared. And then communication. Ultimately, if we are prepared, we kind of use the analogy of going into battle. If we're prepared for battle, Right there, what's the saying? It's like half the battle, right? I mean, being prepared sets us up for success. And from there, the next part of the struggle is the communication. And it's literally like.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  43. “At their house, you know, so that all those little things have always made it very exciting for me to be part of the front of the house and be part of that experience.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  44. “Yeah, I think, again, that goes back to A, my love for The interactions, I love for essentially the instant gratification of talking to someone about the food. But certainly my experience of spending time in the front of the house and experiencing that first impression of somebody walking in the door and how that greeting at the host end to getting them to a table, how many factors there are in that and how easy it is to really screw that up or blow somebody's mind. And again, I can think about times that Union Square Cafe remember walking people to a table and creating a very quick relationship. I mean, one time I remember quickly, like literally, I mean, in 30 steps having a discussion and realizing that they were from London and I was going to London the next month and we connected quickly and I end up going and spending a”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  45. “Overhearing somebody talking about bacon and thinking about, okay, they didn't order bacon, but we make an incredible bacon in-house. How about we send them a little bacon? So all those things kind of make my day more exciting.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  46. “Can have a night where I know half the dining room and it just the night just flies by between spending time with people and then just making sure that those experiences are amazing. And then I'll have another night where I don't know anybody. And so now I'm challenged to really push. I don't have anybody to really connect with. So how do I go out and connect with them? And how do we make that experience? How do I put coins in the meter for somebody? I can't do that. So what do I do? And allow that is finding a way to connect through food and see that, again, two boys are sitting at a table. I have a feeling they probably wouldn't mind some ice cream. And so, you know, how do we get ahead and do something kind of special for them?”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  47. “Every day is different. Mainly because of who's coming in, we don't change what we're doing. We're not a restaurant that Much as we do change the menu, we don't change the menu daily, and especially create menus just because of who's coming in. But for me, I think for the majority of the staff, every day is fairly similar. There's definitely ups and downs who called out sick. What did we not get today? Did we sell a ton of ducks yesterday? And so now we're really behind today, and that's a big project. But for me, every day is very different because, A, my task list can be because I enjoy the customer interaction, I find that”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  48. “Of mine. Hostess Cupcake, the blizzard, and cookies and some of the things like that. And then I think same for our pastry chef, Diana. It's that she's excited about that she remembers eating or something that seems kind of mundane like a bread pudding. How do we make it really exciting? And so again, these little twists that make it really exciting.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  49. “cauliflower and the turmeric was great so what if we make a spice paste of that now we had some chilies in and now we're gonna batter it and fry it now we have something that's amazing it tastes great but needs something else and then thinking about okay what are some what are some like more american things how do i get away from the spice now and pull back and we like to use a lot of sweet sour spicy salty crunchy like all these things that create these peaks and valleys as you eat you know one bite is one thing one bite is another so in that one specific dish, I was like, okay, well, now what are the other components? How do we make something sweet and sour? And so we made a lemon jam and then we added some pickled chilies and then we add some cilantro for this strong herb flavor. And so all these things kind of became a dish, but they're all inspired by something else. I mean, that's kind of happened throughout the menu. And then a lot of the desserts have taken shape from childhood favorite things.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  50. “This cultural background that I saw. Floyd Cardot was a mentor of mine. I saw him pull from this every day. Every day we cooked, he pulled from his Indian background and was able to talk about something he had as a child growing up. And so I said, okay, I am not going to rip off dishes from the past, but I need to borrow from them. I need to be inspired by them. And I think a great example of that is we have a crispy cauliflower dish on the menu, which was really inspired by something we did at Tabla and something I did later on somewhere else. And it's coated in Indian spices that we used to make this dish. I think it was scallops with this cauliflower puree with tomatoes and, I mean, nothing to do with what we're doing, but just that, again, thinking about somebody's combinations made me say, all right, well, I don't want to use X, Y, and Z, but the cumin was amazing with that.”

    2018-11-13 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · #45 Dan Kluger: Taking Time to Get It Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT