Magicians, Coatchecks, and Designing Magic

What's the secrets to unreasonable hospitality? That's what I wanted to find out when I sat down with Will Guidara and Brian Canlis. Will spent over a decade running Eleven Madison Park, the restaurant voted number one in the world, and Brian is the force behind Canlis in Seattle, one of the most respected fine dining institutions in the country. Their insights on hospitality extend far beyond the restaurant world, and I was particularly struck by how they've systematically approached building meaningful connections, both online and off. Their approach to "unreasonable hospitality" has completely reshaped how I think about every customer touchpoint in my own business, and there are so many actionable ideas here for any creator or entrepreneur.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:07 How Will and Brian started working together
03:07 The first big project they worked on
04:47 Brian's "friend internship" and meeting his wife
05:56 Brian's career running Canlis
08:26 The vision for their current business
14:16 Shifting from consulting to creative studio
16:18 The broad applicability of hospitality
30:53 Chewy's pattern recognition and customer experience
35:16 "What would have to be true?" for seemingly impossible goals
45:40 Mapping every tiny guest interaction
54:19 The value of "fresh eyes" and notebook feedback
1:07:47 Why doing the "right thing" matters long-term
1:09:15 The 95/5 rule for managing resources
1:11:49 Opportunities to elevate the Kit platform experience
1:15:16 Making powerful tools accessible and fun
1:18:18 Celebrating user milestones and personalized moments

If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one.

Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show

Follow Nathan:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry
X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow
Website: https://nathanbarry.com
Kit: https://kit.com

Follow Will:
Website: https://unreasonablehospitality.com
The Field Guide: https://uhthefieldguide.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wguidara
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willguidara

Follow Brian:
Website: https://unreasonablehospitality.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bcanlis
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-canlis-2820122a6

Featured in this episode:
Kit: https://www.kit.com
Unreasonable Hospitality: https://unreasonablehospitality.com
Unreasonable Hospitality Field Guide: https://uhthefieldguide.com