Neal Bodenheimer

Recently, I’ve been delving into the overarching dialogue between guests and hospitality businesses. I have always believed that to be successful in this industry, you must have your own unique voice and perspective, much like every person is an individual. I’ve always believed that businesses that try to please everyone end up pleasing no one in the end because they have no identity. I genuinely believe that as a hospitality operator, you must do what you think is good, and if your clients don’t agree, then you’ll go out of business. Identity and execution are key. But lately, I’ve been refining that idea. I’ve been thinking about dialogue and the conversation between guests and our businesses. How do we give guests what they want without sacrificing our identity or reason to exist? The more I think about it, the more I understand that it is a balancing act that not many people in hospitality talk about enough. How do we meet our guests where they are without sacrificing who we are? It’s like any relationship. We need our partner (in a service transaction, in this case) to see who we are and love us for who we are, but we also have to do the same for them and eventually meet in the middle.

I want the new hire to have a curious mind and to have outside interests that would make them an interesting person to work with as a co-worker or to talk to as a guest. I always ask questions about what people like about the interview process. For example, if you’re a chef, what are your favorite restaurants and why? Where do you eat on your days off? What do you cook for yourself when you can barely muster the strength to cook? I think interviewing requires genuine curiosity about the person in front of you and what makes them tick. In the end, I am always seeking a connection or spark with a hire that makes me believe they will be a good fit.

I’m inspired by so many things around me. Sometimes a detail triggers my creative mind, or sometimes a place I visit makes me nostalgic, and I start dreaming of ways to pass that feeling along to guests.

I have two things that really help me. First and foremost, spending time with my family grounds me. They believe in me but certainly don’t put me on a pedestal. My wife has been my longtime confidant and advisor, so sometimes work will enter the dialogue, but we are generally too busy living our exceedingly normal family life for me to want to bring work home. Second, and nearly as important for my well-being, is my yoga practice. Yoga grounds me and puts my mind at ease, even when things are swirling out of control around me. Scheduling time for yourself is something that took me years and years to learn, and it is crucial at this point for my survival.

I bounce around a lot, but I like there to be a nice mix of educational things like news, politics, business, or food & drink. I also love some frivolous podcasts, like the ones that cover my beloved New Orleans Saints. Here are a few that I listen to regularly: NYT Daily, NYT Headlines, Pivot, Raging Moderates, Radiolab, One Song, New Orleans Football, Say Grace, The Curious Bartender, Radio Imbibe, Bartender at Large, and Milk Street Radio.