The Power of High-Level Hospitality

The phrase, “the customer is king,” may be mere platitude to some, but to Danny Meyer it’s a business religion.

Meyer, restaurateur and author of Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, believes that the companies that exalt their clients are the most likely to succeed. Forget simple service, he’s talking high-level hospitality. It’s that kind of dedication to customers that breeds loyalty in return, even in the worst of economic times.

Meyer’s theory has panned out, as his favorite businesses have outperformed even throughout the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009. Cramer tapped Meyer back on Feb. 2, 2009, to create a hospitality index to track the performance of these top companies, including the likes of American Express , eBay , Costco , Goldman Sachs , Apple and 12 others. And since then the index is up 151 percent versus just a 45-percent jump for the S&P 500.

How did these companies do so well in the face of such odds? What’s keeping them at the top of their game? For answers to those questions, Cramer went back to Meyer one more time. Watch the video for the full interview.

When this story published, Cramer’s charitable trust owned American Express and Apple.

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