From Booklist
Creating a world-class restaurant requires command of more talents than cooking alone. A wise chef must master all the arts: painting, music, architecture, and even dance, all of which combine in any consummate dining experience. A chef must also acquire business skills: accounting, human resources, management, finance, media relations--an error in any one of those compromising dining perfection. Chicago's Charlie Trotter has conquered all those areas, and Clarke has focused on Trotter's noncooking aptitudes to find insights into the success of Trotter's restaurant and, by extension, any other thriving enterprise. Based on Tom Peters' standards of excellence, Clarke's analysis reveals how Trotter himself works and how he engenders similar excellence in his restaurant staff. It may offend conventional wisdom to enthrone a chef as a paragon of outstanding business leadership, but given the choice in leadership role models, what makes the world a better place: Attila the Hun's heads on pikes or a creative chef's savory pike on fiddleheads? Mark Knoblauch
Lessons in Excellence from Charlie Trotter: 75 Ways One Visionary Is Setting New Standard SYNOPSIS
Charlie Trotter's Chicago restaurant is not only one of the premiere eating experiences in America, it also serves as the model of a thriving business whose cutting-edge approach to management is setting new standards for quality, efficiency, and profitability. In fact, people in just about any field can learn from Charlie's methods. For this breakthrough business guide, journalist Paul Clarke conducted in-depth interviews with Charlie and his associates, distilling invaluable lessons for entrepreneurs and hospitality professionals who are committed to creating consistent, highly respected, and innovative businesses. Anyone who wants to improve their business will be sure to learn something new from this Midwestern dynamo.