Unreasonable Hospitality, 7 Facts About Vault Keynote Speaker Will Guidara

Valuetainment is hosting their Vault conference starting August 30th. You can get your here tickets here.

One of the keynote speakers is Will Guidara who took over a struggling New York City restaurant with a mediocre reputation, and, at the age of 26, turned it around to become a Michelin star rated restaurant, known to be one of the city’s best. A few things may surprise you along this entrepreneur’s journey.

1. No one expected Guidara to turn around Eleven Madison Park the way he did. He was brought on just to keep the place afloat. But he employed his ethos which was “unreasonable hospitality”. That means going above and beyond for customers. One example was when a family from another nation was visiting and ran out of time to try to a classic NYC hot dog. So Guidara got a hot dog and gave it a beautiful, elegant, fine dining twist, while the family reported it to be the highlight of their trip
2. Eleven Madison Park is still going strong, but has since switched to an innovative plant based menu, with no meat on the table. It still retains its popularity despite the switch.
3. Will’s wife is accomplished pastry chef Christina Tosi. She was a judge on Master Chef and has won two James Beard Foundation awards, the premier awards for chefs in the food game. Guidara hired her as a pastry chef for a charity event he was putting on, and the rest was history.
4. His hospitality group, Make it Nice, went beyond just New York City, operating restaurants in Los Angeles and Las Vegas as well.
5. Giudara is also a recipient of multiple James Beard Foundation Awards, making him one of the top restauranteurs in the world.
6. Will spent much of his childhood taking care of his quadriplegic mother. Though she could barely form a word, her expressions of pride gave him the motivation to succeed in life.
7. At thirteen, Guidara has three life goals. He wanted to attend Cornell, marry supermodel Cindy Crawford and open a restaurant. He never got to marry Crawford, but hey, he did attend Cornell and opened a number of very successful restaurants, so two out of three ain’t bad.

Will said his father always told him that “adversity is a terrible thing to waste.” He, like Patrick, grew up with much diversity in his life and channeled it to create success, as Patrick has. Expect the two to bond over their difficult but impactful childhoods as they go beyond the topic of simple business and entrepreneurialship. They’ll explore the topics of growing up, of family inspiration, and enjoying your success for the people in your life that matter most.