What I'm reading: Ed Kenney
By Christine Thomas
Special to The Advertiser
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What are you reading?
I'm always reading five to six books at a time. The one I'm super psyched about is "Setting the Table" by Danny Meyer, who owns nine restaurants in New York City. He's always been one of my idols as far as business goes because he's a successful businessman and restaurateur but also a family man. In the restaurant business, maintaining both can be difficult, and he's successful at it. I relate it to myself quite a bit.
How does it connect?
He's been successful in opening restaurants that have a large local customer base, and what we get here in Hawai'i is most restaurants depend a lot on visitors. At Town, we're trying to attract a majority of locals. In his book, he talks about what he calls "enlightened hospitality" — elevating the experience beyond food service, atmosphere, decor and value. He's been really successful in attracting a local repeat customer base. So there's that side, but on the other side, he talks about how he integrates family and business.
Does this window into his success reinvigorate your own family-centered business philosophy?
Exactly. We close on Sundays, which Meyer doesn't do, but at the restaurant, we think it's important to have that one day with your family or people you care about. Working in restaurants for the past oodles of years, I've never had Saturday off; the only way I've had it off is to open my own restaurant. It's easy to get lost in your work. Basically, in his book he re-stresses the importance of family. It's really inspiring.
Correction: An incorrect photo appeared in a previous version of this story.
