Daniel Meyer (born March 14, 1958) is a New York City

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

and the Founder & Executive Chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG).

Background and early career

Meyer was born and raised in a

reform Jewish Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...

family in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

where he attended

John Burroughs School John Burroughs School (JBS) is a private, non-sectarian college-preparatory school with 631 students in grades 7– 12. Its 49-acre () campus is located in Ladue, Missouri (US), a suburb of St. Louis. Founded in 1923, it is named for U.S. natu ...

. Meyer’s grandfather was a prominent Chicago businessman and philanthropist,

Irving B. Harris Irving B. Harris (August 4, 1910 – September 25, 2004) was an American businessman and philanthropist. With his brother Neison, he co-founded the Toni Home Permanent Company, which was sold to the Gillette Safety Razor Co. in January 1948 for ...

. As a child, Meyer attended Camp Nebagamon for boys in

Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin Lake Nebagamon is a village in Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,069 at the 2010 census. Transportation U.S. Highway 2, U.S. Highway 53, and Wisconsin Highway 27 are located in the Lake Nebagamon area. County Roa ...

. During college, Meyer worked for his father as a tour guide in Rome and then returned there to study international politics. Meyer was a Brother of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity while at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. After graduating from Trinity in 1980 with a degree in political science, Meyer worked in Chicago as

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

field director for John Anderson's 1980 independent presidential campaign. Meyer gained his first restaurant experience in 1984 as an assistant manager at Pesca, an Italian seafood restaurant in the

Flatiron District The Flatiron District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, named after the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Generally, the Flatiron District is bounded by 14th Street, Union Square and Green ...

of New York City. He then returned to Europe to study cooking as a culinary

stagiaire Stagiaire may refer to: * Stage (cooking) or stagiaire, a cook who works briefly, for free, in another chef's kitchen * Stagiaire (cycling), an amateur cyclist temporarily riding for a professional team * A particular type of trainee, see Europea ...

in Italy and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, France.

Career

In 1985, at age 27, Meyer opened his first restaurant,

Union Square Cafe Union Square Cafe is an American restaurant featuring New American cuisine with Italian influences, located at 101 E 19th St (between Park Avenue South and Irving Place), in the Union Square neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York ...

. Meyer's other restaurants and businesses include

Gramercy Tavern Gramercy Tavern is a New American restaurant located at 42 East 20th Street (between Broadway and Park Avenue S.), in the Flatiron District in Manhattan, New York City. It is owned by Danny Meyer, along with Chef/Partner Michael Anthony. The Ex ...

, Blue Smoke and Jazz Standard,

Shake Shack Shake Shack is an American fast casual restaurant chain based in New York City. It started out as a hot dog cart inside Madison Square Park in 2001, and its popularity steadily grew. In 2004, it received a permit to open a permanent kiosk with ...

, The Modern, Cafe 2 and Terrace 5 at

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

, Maialino at the

Gramercy Park Hotel Gramercy Park Hotel was a luxury hotel located at 2 Lexington Avenue, in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the park of the same name. It was known for its rich history. __FORCETOC__ History Gramercy Park Hote ...

, Untitled at the North End Grill, Marta, Porchlight, GreenRiver, Union Square Events, and Hospitality Quotient. Union Square Events, USHG's catering division, operates several concessions at major sports facilities including

Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City, United States. It opened in 2009 and is the home field of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement for the adjacent ...

Saratoga Race Course Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track located on Union Avenue in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. Opened in 1863, it is often considered to be the oldest major sporting venue of any kind in the country, but is actua ...

, and

Nationals Park Nationals Park is a baseball stadium A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimen ...

. In 2010, Meyer suffered his first restaurant closure, Tabla. In a statement, Meyer blamed the closure on the specificity of the Indian cuisine offered by the restaurant. That same year, Meyer participated in a documentary called "The Restaurateur". In late 2011, Union Square Hospitality group sold

Eleven Madison Park __NOTOC__ Eleven Madison Park is a New American fine dining restaurant located inside the Metropolitan Life North Building at 11 Madison Avenue in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, New York City. It has retained 3 Michelin stars since 2012 ...

to its chef

Daniel Humm Daniel Humm (born September 21, 1976) is a Swiss chef and restaurant owner; he is chef/owner of Eleven Madison Park. His cuisine is focused on locally sourced ingredients, with an emphasis on simplicity, purity, and seasonal flavors. A native o ...

and front-of-house director

Will Guidara William Guidara (born 1979) is an American restaurateur based in New York City. Along with chef Daniel Humm, Guidara co-owned the Make It Nice hospitality group, established in 2011, which owns and operates Eleven Madison Park, NoMad New York, N ...

. In 2018, North End Grill closed. In 2015, Meyer announced that he would eliminate tipping at all of his restaurants. The move increased prices by approximately 21 percent and led to large portions of his staff leaving the company.

COVID-19 response and Paycheck Protection Program relief

As the COVID-19 swept through the United States, Meyer shuttered all his restaurants, criticized other businesses for opening, and stated that he did not expect to offer full service until a vaccine was available. In a May 1 Vanity Fair podcast, Meyer explained that taking a

Paycheck Protection Program The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the Donald Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES A ...

loan, intended to help small businesses, "could be the most irresponsible thing in the world for a restaurant to do." In July, it emerged that twelve separate Meyer restaurants received loans. Meyer's company, Union Square Hospitality Group, received between $11.4 and $27 million in PPP loans. Shake Shack earlier claimed to return its PPP assistance following media attention."

Writings

Meyer co-wrote ''The Union Square Cafe Cookbook'' (

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

, 1994) with his business partner, Chef Michael Romano. The book earned the IACP Julia Child Award for the best new cookbook by a first-time author, and was followed up with the highly acclaimed ''Second Helpings from Union Square Cafe'' (HarperCollins, 2001). Meyer also wrote ''The New York Times'' bestseller ''Setting the Table'' (HarperCollins, 2006), which examines the power of hospitality in restaurants, business, and life. In May 2009, Meyer's restaurants released a cocktail cookbook, ''Mix Shake Stir'' (Little, Brown) featuring 140 recipes, along with tips, anecdotes and photography.

Community activism

Meyer has served on the boards of

Share Our Strength Share Our Strength is a national organization working to end childhood hunger and poverty in the United States. Share Our Strength holds culinary events, solicits individual donations, and uses social media to raise funds, which are then used to ...

and City Harvest. In addition, he served as Co-Chair of the Union Square Partnership for 5 years, and as an executive committee member for NYC & Co and the

Madison Square Park Conservancy Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for Founding Father James Madison, fourth President of the United States ...

Ratings and reviews

Four of USHG's restaurants have earned three stars from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

;''

was upgraded to four stars in 2009. USHG's restaurants routinely appear among the Most Popular in New York City according to the

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering ...

guide, including Union Square Cafe, which has held the #1 spot nine times. Eleven Madison Park held three Michelin Stars, The Modern earned its second Michelin Star in 2015, Gramercy Tavern holds one Michelin Star, and GreenRiver was awarded one Michelin Star in 2016. In 2016, The Modern was awarded a

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertain ...

Grand Award in 2016.

Awards

Meyer and USHG have won 28

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

s. * 2018 Workplace Legacy Award, * 2017 Julia Child Award from The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts * 2013

Pennsylvania State University School of Hospitality Management The Pennsylvania State University School of Hospitality Management (also known as SHM) is located at the main campus of The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania and serves over 500 students. SHM is one of the three oldest ...

Conti Professor, Fall Semester

Podcast appearances

Meyer was interviewed by

Reid Hoffman Reid Garrett Hoffman (born August 5, 1967) is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for prof ...

on the

Masters of Scale ''Masters of Scale'' is a business and finance podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn. The show is produced and owned by WaitWhat. In each episode, Hoffman introduces a theory on how successful businesses scale, and tests it ...

podcast, where he talked about how he ignored conventional wisdom to revolutionize the restaurant industry. He appeared on The Ringer's House of Carbs Podcast, where he presented his Washington D.C. establishment "Maialino Mare" and talked about his career in hospitality. Danny Meyer most recently appeared on The Knowledge Project Podcast to discusses the intersection between hospitality and humanity, and why we’re all invested in the hospitality business.

Book reviews

*''The Union Square Cafe Cookbook'' was described in the ''New York Journal of Books'' as "...expertly adapted for home use and offers many dishes worth trying and adding to your repertoire."

Personal life

In 1988, Meyer married Audrey Rayelyn Heffernan in an interfaith

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and Jewish service at

Unitarian Church of All Souls The Unitarian Church of All Souls at 1157 Lexington Avenue at East 80th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City was built in 1932 and was designed by Hobart Upjohn – Richard Upjohn's grandson – in the Neo-colonial ...

in Manhattan.New York Times: "Daniel Meyer Weds Audrey Heffernan"
August 28, 1988

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Danny 1958 births Living people Businesspeople from New York City Fast casual chain founders American restaurateurs 20th-century American Jews Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni Businesspeople from St. Louis James Beard Foundation Award winners 21st-century American Jews International Association of Culinary Professionals award winners