The Art of Hospitality

The finest restaurants in the world are not distinguished by their food. They are distinguished by the fact that someone noticed your glass was empty before you did.

We took our operating standard from that world rather than from the grooming industry, because the grooming industry has largely stopped competing on it.

Service can be trained in a week. Hospitality is hired for.

The greeting

Every guest is greeted by name where possible, offered a beverage before he is offered a chair, and never left standing without acknowledgment.

No guest waits without something in his hand — coffee, an espresso, a cocktail in the evening hours, or a well-made non-alcoholic pour from the house menu.

The handoff and the exit

A guest is walked to the chair, not pointed at it. The barber restates the service before beginning. Nothing is assumed and nothing is rushed.

At the end, he is walked out. That last thirty seconds is the part he will remember, and it is the part most shops give away.