Hospitality

Danny Meyer Is Exactly As Charming As You Think He Is

Danny Meyer: always on.
Danny Meyer: always on. Photo: Getty Images

The Times just put up a terrific — and long! — profile on Danny Meyer that will run in this weekend’s Sunday magazine. The entire thing is absolutely worth a read, and it generally reinforces the idea that Meyer is a folksy, down-to-earth machine, committed only to the idea of making everyone in the world happy by serving them great food. Well, doing that but then also making a gazillion dollars by opening a bunch of Shake Shacks.

The highlights include the fact that Meyer is predictably fantastic at shaking hands (“[Meyer] took my hand and applied the ideal amount of pressure for the ideal amount of time: a better handshake than any I could recall.”); that he has nicknames for almost everything he does (his method for crossing the street is called “Meyscrom”; making a dish look more rustic is “turning up the ‘home’ dial”); that he was so nervous about the first review of Union Square Cafe that his face became paralyzed for two weeks; and that he will never, ever, ever open a fine-dining restaurant in Las Vegas (“I actually have a bad reaction to … the synthetic deodorizers they pump through to eliminate smoke. Really, those smells almost sicken me.”).

See? Like we said: great read.

A Movable Feast: Danny Meyer on a Roll [NYT]
Related: Could Shake Shack’s Grand Central Arrival Be Bad News for the Oyster Bar?

Danny Meyer Is Exactly As Charming As You Think He Is