Restaurateur Danny Meyer Joins Consello's Declan Kelly to Discuss What It Takes to Scale a Culture of Exceptional Hospitality

NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In the latest episode of Grey Matter, Danny Meyer, Founder and Executive Chairman of Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), joins Consello Founder, Chairman, and CEO Declan Kelly to discuss how leaders can turn a core instinct into an enduring and repeatable culture of excellence. The conversation takes on a familiar challenge leaders face: what makes an experience exceptional is often the hardest thing to maintain as a business grows.

Over four decades, Meyer has built some of the most influential names in hospitality, from Union Square Café, which he opened in 1985, to Shake Shack, which was born from a hot dog cart concept run out of the kitchen of Eleven Madison Park and has grown to over 400 locations globally. In the conversation, Meyer explains how he turned his philosophy of hospitality into a shared way of working that could grow with the businesses he built. That experience is also the subject of Meyer's new book, "What Could Possibly Go Right?" which examines how to build an organization that can sustain exceptional hospitality at scale.

A central part of Meyer's approach is HQ, or Hospitality Quotient, a genuine satisfaction in making others feel better. He believes an organization's success is 51% hospitality and 49% performance. That belief shapes how he looks for leaders and how teams learn to "read signs" to recognize what each customer or colleague needs. When employees share that motivation, the culture becomes a common standard that shapes the way the business operates every day.

The full episode is available at Consello.com and on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

About ConselloConsello is an Advisory and Investing Platform with offices in New York, Miami, Atlanta, Dublin, Belfast, London, Brussels, and Abu Dhabi.

Consello's distinct advisory practices provide the complete strategic counsel today's leaders need to grow and transform their organizations. Consello's advisory expertise spans Corporate Advisory; M&A; Management Consulting; Talent; and Sports and Entertainment. Dedicated teams operate in each practice, led by a leadership group with deep operational experience across industries, business growth stages and market cycles and with an expansive set of global corporate relationships.

Consello's investment business, Consello Capital, identifies high-potential mid-market companies and invests capital and expertise to transform their growth.

Consello Media Inquiries[email protected]

SOURCE Consello