What 225 Covers a Night Taught Me About Hospitality

Lessons from a summer in restaurant operations in Nashville

Before this summer, I thought I knew what hospitality meant. I’d always been the friend who plans the dinner, picks the restaurant, and makes sure everyone is having a good time. Then I spent May through July in restaurant operations at Sushi Row and Dos Santos in Nashville, helping coordinate a front-of-house team on nights with 225 or more covers. I learned that real hospitality is much less about the moment a guest walks in and much more about everything that happens before and after it.

Service is a verb. Hospitality is a noun, an adjective, and a verb.

I used to think service and hospitality were the same thing. Now I see it differently. Service is a verb: it’s what you do, like taking the order, running the food, and dropping the check. Hospitality is all three. It’s a noun, because it’s an industry and a place people come back to. It’s an adjective, because it describes who you are when you’re warm and attentive, even on your busiest night. And it’s a verb, because you show it through how you take care of people. Service gets the job done. Hospitality is what makes guests feel looked after.

Something always goes wrong. Recovery is what counts.

Restaurants are unpredictable. Reservations run long, walk-ins show up all at once, a dish comes out wrong. The question is how fast you fix it, and sometimes the guest never notices. But when they do, that’s when hospitality really counts. How do we make it up to them? How do we make sure they leave feeling completely taken care of? A free dessert here or a gift card there barely touches the bottom line. What really moves it is a guest coming back because they felt cared for after you owned the mistake. Solving problems matters, but recovery is what makes guests come back.

Ownership thinks in years, not shifts

I also got to sit down with the owners and learn the business side. My favorite project was helping reimagine the breakfast burrito window attached to Dos Santos as a standalone concept, from naming directions like No Halos and Morning Glory to brand decks and launch ideas. Beyond that, we talked about future locations: the right timing, the right neighborhood, the right concept. We looked at the competition and how we compared, always pushing to be better while knowing when to put the brakes on. Seeing how much thought goes into every move was one of the most valuable parts of my summer.

The more you learn, the less you know

Alongside my time on the floor, I read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara and both of Danny Meyer’s books, including his newest, What Could Possibly Go Right. Between working in restaurants and reading these books, I’ll never walk into a restaurant, or work in one, the same way again. The two experiences were very different, but they taught me the same thing: in hospitality, the more you learn, the less you know. There’s always another detail to notice and another way to take care of someone.

Where I’m going from here

I’m studying Public Relations with a minor in Entrepreneurship at the University of Miami, and this summer confirmed that I want to build a career in hospitality. After Miami, I plan to pursue a master’s degree in hospitality. Programs like Cornell, NYU, and FIU are at the top of my list. I want to pair what I’ve learned on the floor with a deeper understanding of how great hospitality businesses are built and run. If there’s one thing this summer taught me, it’s that there’s always more to learn. I want to be in the rooms where restaurant concepts are created, launched, and grown, making sure guests feel cared for at every step. I’m taking that with me wherever I go next.

Want to talk hospitality, restaurants, or a project you’re working on? Get in touch. I’d love to connect.