Twelve books. One job — become better operators, better leaders and the most hospitality-obsessed people in this industry.
Craveworthy Brands is on a mission to build, not the largest, but the best restaurant company in America and to create 100,000 restaurant success stories along the way. We do it by injecting operational excellence into great brands and giving the people behind them a real opportunity at building something that lasts.
Here is the thing we believe down to the bone: what builds intentional success, is its people. It is how you make your guests feel, and how you show up for each other. That belief shows up in how we operate every day, and it comes down to the values we never compromise on:
People First. Bet on Yourself. Do the Work. Own the Outcome.
So this summer, the whole Craveworthy team is reading. As operators, we never stop learning, and these twelve books are the same ideas we run day in and day out. We are sharing our list because the more all of us grow, the better our whole industry gets.
Read along with us. Start with the first one, then keep going — every title earned its place. Tell us which ones land, argue with us about the ones that do not and let us know what we left off. Whether you run one location or a hundred, this list is for anyone serious about getting better.
Guidara took Eleven Madison Park to the best restaurant in the world by obsessing over how he made people feel, not just what he served. This is the standard. Hospitality is not a department — it is the whole game.
Short, old and it still lands. "It shall be done." No excuses, find a way, finish the job. Seventy pages of pure grit.
How to actually lead people. Set clear goals, catch your team doing things right, redirect fast. A quick read that changes how you run a shift.
The foundation modern hospitality is built on. Meyer puts his priorities in order — employees first, then guests, then community.
Help your people chase their dreams, then watch what it does to your culture and your retention. Turning hustle into ownership starts here.
The discipline behind scaling. Level Five leadership, first who then what, the flywheel. When you bring operational excellence into great brands, this is the bar for what "great" actually means.
The honest version of running a company when it gets ugly. No clean answers — just the truth about making hard calls.
No bad teams, only bad leaders. Own everything in your world. Built for multi-unit leaders who need their people taking ownership without a babysitter.
The most honest founder memoir out there. Fuel for anyone who thinks the road to a billion is supposed to be smooth.
The science behind why unreasonable hospitality works. How to engineer the peak moments guests remember, and tell people about.
Why people follow. Why guests stay loyal. Why a brand means something. It connects the daily grind to the bigger mission.
Work on the business, not just in it. Why repeatable systems are what let you scale.
Culture before numbers. That is true whether you run one location or a thousand, this industry has always run on people who refuse to stop getting better. When one of us levels up, all of us do.
So pick a book. Start this week. Bring it back to your team. The best version of this industry is the one we build together.