Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Couric, and welcome to next question.
Speaker 1: Remember back just a few months ago, when a nice
Speaker 1: Friday evening might be spent at your favorite restaurant, that
Speaker 1: neighborhood place where the bartender knows your go to drink,
Speaker 1: and when it's busy, you can still count on settling
Speaker 1: into a spot at the bar, sitting shoulder to shoulder
Speaker 1: with the strangers around you. At the end, happy and full,
Speaker 1: you make your way through the lingering crowd, only stopping
Speaker 1: to give a little hug to someone you haven't seen
Speaker 1: in a while before heading back out into the night air.
Speaker 1: It's not easy right to picture that. In our coronavirus
Speaker 1: social distancing world, imagining that crowded intimate scene is enough
Speaker 1: to send a shiver down your spine as you're parrelling
Speaker 1: your hands, which is exactly why the restaurant industry has
Speaker 1: become one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. So far,
Speaker 1: more than eight million restaurant employees have been laid off,
Speaker 1: and by the end of April, the industry had lost
Speaker 1: more than eighty billion dollars in sales. But restaurant tour
Speaker 1: Danny Meyer says that's not all that's been lost. Restaurants
Speaker 1: play such an important part in the emotional fabric of
Speaker 1: this country. The month of May, we have graduations, we
Speaker 1: have weddings, and all these things that just feel good
Speaker 1: to people to celebrate and where food plays a role,
Speaker 1: just aren't happening right now. As we continue to explore
Speaker 1: what life will look like once we begin to get
Speaker 1: back to some sort of normal, I'll be turning to
Speaker 1: business leaders and entrepreneurs to find out how they see
Speaker 1: their industries re emerging. And so today a conversation with
Speaker 1: Danny Meyer and shake Shack CEO Randy Garuti to explore
Speaker 1: my next question, how will the restaurant industry get back
Speaker 1: to business. Danny Meyer, who founded shake Shack, is also
Speaker 1: head of one of the country's most prestigious restaurant companies,
Speaker 1: the Union Square Hospitality Group, which owns and operates restaurants
Speaker 1: and event businesses in Las Vegas, Washington, d C. And
Speaker 1: New York, including the famous Union Square Cafe, which he
Speaker 1: opened in ninet But on March eighteenth, he had to
Speaker 1: lay off two thousand employees, about of the company's total staff,
Speaker 1: due to a near complete elimination of revenue. Danny described
Speaker 1: that day as the most difficult of his life. Here's
Speaker 1: what he told his employees in a video message. We
Speaker 1: have laid off more people today then we probably hired
Speaker 1: in the first years we've in business. I can't believe
Speaker 1: those words have just come out of my mouth. And
Speaker 1: we're doing so because we want to be here with you.
Speaker 1: We want to be back in business when that gay comes,
Speaker 1: which we can all visualize, when our restaurants and bars
Speaker 1: and jazz books and events and ballparks and museums are
Speaker 1: back to doing business as normal. Can you tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about the process of making that decision?
Speaker 1: I understood, and I still understand that this is not
Speaker 1: the thing that's going to end the world. It just isn't.
Speaker 1: And unless you disagree with me, and then you say,
Speaker 1: all right, if that's the case, it's going to be
Speaker 1: over at a certain point. And when it's over, the
Speaker 1: question will be who were you during the time and
Speaker 1: what decisions did you make? Often incredibly distasteful and unpleasant decisions,
Speaker 1: But what decisions did you during that time that will
Speaker 1: set you up best two re emerge even stronger than
Speaker 1: you went into this thing. The reason that was such
Speaker 1: an incredibly tough day, and by the way, in my company,
Speaker 1: Union Square Hospitality Group, there have been two of those days,
Speaker 1: because there came a point when we really really hoped
Speaker 1: we could get back into business sooner and create some
Speaker 1: revenue sooner. And once we realize that New York at
Speaker 1: that point was only getting more and more dangerous, we
Speaker 1: actually had to go through a second round of cuts,
Speaker 1: which I deeply hope is the last time we will
Speaker 1: ever have to do that. But on on the date
Speaker 1: you just said we had employees at Union Square Hospitality Group,
Speaker 1: today we have seventy. And once we made that decision,
Speaker 1: which is that the only responsible thing to do if
Speaker 1: you truly care about people, is to set yourself up
Speaker 1: to be able to re employ them when it's safe
Speaker 1: to do so, then you have to make sure that
Speaker 1: your business doesn't go out of business. It was almost
Speaker 1: a business version of chemotherapy, because in order to survive,
Speaker 1: you had to do something that almost kills you in
Speaker 1: the meantime, and at this point, the best thing we
Speaker 1: can do is stay alive. The second thing is stay safe,
Speaker 1: and the third thing is stay connected. And we've been
Speaker 1: trying like crazy to just keep those three things in
Speaker 1: our mind in the belief that when we do those things,
Speaker 1: we will be in a position to do the next
Speaker 1: three things. And the next three things are hopefully benefit
Speaker 1: from some advances in science, whether it be testing or
Speaker 1: medication or ultimately a vaccine. So science um. And then
Speaker 1: secondly to UH to hopefully create the type of safety
Speaker 1: structures so that people gradually feel safer uh actually and
Speaker 1: emotionally to come back to work and to go out
Speaker 1: to eating in And if we can do those things,
Speaker 1: I really trust will be will be okay. On the
Speaker 1: other end, in the meantime, Danny is donating his own
Speaker 1: salary and the pay cuts from his executive staff to
Speaker 1: an employee relief fund set up for laid off workers.
Speaker 1: He says he hopes to rehire all those who are
Speaker 1: let go as soon as possible, but to get to
Speaker 1: that point safely, his restaurants, if not the industry as
Speaker 1: a whole, will have to change, at least for now.
Speaker 1: I would say that what we're going through right now
Speaker 1: is probably the greatest experiment in leadership agility that this
Speaker 1: planet has ever seen. Every day requires each of us,
Speaker 1: in in every leadership role, to pivot. There's generally a
Speaker 1: spirit of collegiality, and everybody is really trying to figure
Speaker 1: out the same kind of answers, which is, what the
Speaker 1: hell do we do right now? And you know, what
Speaker 1: are the kinds of things that we can do safely
Speaker 1: to bring our team back as quickly as possible. I'm
Speaker 1: not talking primarily about full service restaurants. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the kind of restaurants where you've got a host in
Speaker 1: a maitre d and bartenders and you've got so many
Speaker 1: as pouring wine and they don't know how to pour
Speaker 1: wine from six ft away without throwing the wine into
Speaker 1: somebody's glass. And you talk about waiters and waitresses. His
Speaker 1: job it is to clear tables and touch people's glasses
Speaker 1: and touch people's napkins while they're clearing them. And you
Speaker 1: talk about co checking and getting a cod check and
Speaker 1: handing your coat to someone else, and you know, giving
Speaker 1: your credit card to somebody when you don't want anyone
Speaker 1: to touch your credit card. The best judgment I have
Speaker 1: is that once there's a vaccine, you'll start to see
Speaker 1: a lot more people coming back. They'll probably start with
Speaker 1: being younger people, because let's face it, younger people statistically
Speaker 1: and emotionally have felt a little bit less endangered than
Speaker 1: people who are, let's say, north of sixty years old,
Speaker 1: and and we'll be we'll be adjusting and making those
Speaker 1: adjustments as well to make it feel as safe as
Speaker 1: we possibly can. The sad thing, though, is that, unlike
Speaker 1: after nine eleven, where there was pre existing technology of
Speaker 1: metal detectors that just needed to be deployed at office
Speaker 1: buildings and ballparks and Disneyland and obviously at airports, there
Speaker 1: is no virus detector that we have so far, and
Speaker 1: so it's going to take a while before the public
Speaker 1: at large feel safe congregated. And the other thing I'll
Speaker 1: say is this another great advantage that I feel very
Speaker 1: happy about for shake Shack is that shake Shack is
Speaker 1: now proving that you can have no tables in your
Speaker 1: dining room, which is the case today, and you can
Speaker 1: still create revenue. If you ask a full service restaurant
Speaker 1: two make money with fift of their tables removed, because
Speaker 1: that's the safety protocol. Not only will it not feel
Speaker 1: great in there, but the restaurant is actually going to
Speaker 1: be at a financial disadvantage relative to just being closed.
Speaker 1: So what do you do about that? Danny? I mean
Speaker 1: that sounds pretty bleak. It is bleak, except that it
Speaker 1: gets back to this question of agility. And I think
Speaker 1: that the great leaders of this minute, the future is now,
Speaker 1: it's it's not tomorrow, and it's not six months from now.
Speaker 1: The great leaders are going to say, I need to
Speaker 1: create a new business scenario. And the reason I'm on
Speaker 1: this team is that my leaders believe that I am
Speaker 1: emotionally and intellectually agile enough to to work and come
Speaker 1: up with a new business scenario. The kind of people
Speaker 1: who say that's not how we do it around here
Speaker 1: are not going to succeed in this environment at all.
Speaker 1: So in our industry, the obvious two things people are
Speaker 1: talking about in the full service business our delivery and
Speaker 1: pick up. And I'm challenging our teams at Union Square
Speaker 1: Hospitality Group every single day to ask yourself, what does
Speaker 1: that word delivery mean? All right? Does it have to
Speaker 1: mean all of the big delivery aggregators where the person
Speaker 1: picking up the food is someone who's never been to
Speaker 1: your restaurant and the apartment that they're delivering to is
Speaker 1: someone they don't know? What if? What if? Delivery for
Speaker 1: Union Square Hospitality Group meant something much more akin to
Speaker 1: house calls like we used to get in the old
Speaker 1: days from doctors. What if we could take a big
Speaker 1: city and make it smaller, and what if the person
Speaker 1: who delivered your food is someone who we rehired. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's a cook, maybe it's a waiter, and maybe they
Speaker 1: have a personal connection. What if delivery was a tight
Speaker 1: zone just like it like it used to be in
Speaker 1: the old days, where we're actually we're building hospitality experiences
Speaker 1: and relationships even though we're not creating the greatest you know,
Speaker 1: distance for all of our delivery. Now that's a different
Speaker 1: thing that we face. I think shake Shacks doing exactly
Speaker 1: the right thing to make a shock Burger available on
Speaker 1: any platform that exists. When you talk Danny to just
Speaker 1: as a follow up to some of your friends in
Speaker 1: the restaurant business, I mean, what are some of the
Speaker 1: most innovative, interesting ideas that you've heard, uh to to
Speaker 1: fill out this time period between now and a vaccine
Speaker 1: or now when when things will feel kind of back
Speaker 1: to normal hopefully. Well, we're seeing a lot of exciting things. Um.
Speaker 1: One of the ones that I like the most is
Speaker 1: the notion of restaurants creating a subscription model where every
Speaker 1: Thursday or every you know, pick a day of the week.
Speaker 1: You could pick your favorite seven restaurants, you pick your
Speaker 1: favorite fifty restaurants. But you can subscribe that on a
Speaker 1: given day of the week, that restaurant will deliver to
Speaker 1: you either a market basket of ingredients with recipes with
Speaker 1: which you can cook, you can get on FaceTime with
Speaker 1: the chef, and you know, get personalized instructions. You trust
Speaker 1: how Grammercy Tavern sources its fish or its meat, which
Speaker 1: or it's vegetables, which helps all of our suppliers, which
Speaker 1: is a really important thing. So I love that model.
Speaker 1: I also love the model which says, um, tell us,
Speaker 1: how many people are going to be sitting at your
Speaker 1: family table on Tuesday night, and and we're going to
Speaker 1: cook for you, and and this is what it is.
Speaker 1: Restaurants do not need to have the same experience. You know,
Speaker 1: if if Katie, if if you and Muellner, and Autrey
Speaker 1: and I went out to dinner, the four of us
Speaker 1: would invariably order four different appetizers and four different main courses.
Speaker 1: We'd all want to have the experience of trying a
Speaker 1: little bit of this and that. That's different right now,
Speaker 1: I think family meal means the restaurant now has the
Speaker 1: opportunity to pare down its offerings, which it's going to
Speaker 1: need to do to be profitable, and just say, trust us,
Speaker 1: you know you love this restaurant. We're doing roast chicken
Speaker 1: on Tuesday night. Would you guys like that for your
Speaker 1: family of six or whatever? So I love that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. I also love UM. Something that we've been
Speaker 1: doing at Union Square Hospitality Group is we've been conducting
Speaker 1: online auctions and we've been contributing all the money to
Speaker 1: our to our Hugs fund UM and we're finding experiences
Speaker 1: are selling. We're finding that wine is selling in interesting
Speaker 1: ways because now we're able to to sell wine off premise,
Speaker 1: which we were not able to do before this. So
Speaker 1: what's great is some of these things are gonna stick
Speaker 1: even after this is over. And I think that that
Speaker 1: if we add those to our pre existing business model,
Speaker 1: we could we could emerge from this in a much
Speaker 1: stronger place even than we went into it. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to be patient. When we come back, we'll
Speaker 1: talk with Danny Meyer and Shake Shack CEO Randy Garudi
Speaker 1: about that ten million dollars small business loan in two
Speaker 1: thousand one, shake Shack was nothing more than a hot
Speaker 1: dog cart inside Madison Square Park in New York City,
Speaker 1: but by two thousand four Danny Meyer opened its first
Speaker 1: permanent location inside that same park and expanded the menu
Speaker 1: to include its signature burgers, fries, and shakes. By two
Speaker 1: thousand fifteen, Shake Shack was a national chain and a
Speaker 1: publicly traded company with hundreds of locations around the country
Speaker 1: and the world. After COVID hit, some shake Shacks closed,
Speaker 1: particularly the international spots and airport locations, but a lot
Speaker 1: of them have been able to stay in, which has
Speaker 1: required some major flexibility on the part of CEO Randy Garudi,
Speaker 1: and he says the leadership of his national teams we
Speaker 1: have watched literally um not our executive team pushed down,
Speaker 1: although we have said the standards of safety, we need
Speaker 1: to stay open so that we can employ our team.
Speaker 1: Here's how we're going to take care of our team.
Speaker 1: But you tell us how and I have just just
Speaker 1: blown away every day and you're following it on people's
Speaker 1: Instagrams then posting shape Jack turning into a drive through, Katie.
Speaker 1: We've never had a drive through. We don't have a
Speaker 1: drive through, but we've got, I don't know, fortify them
Speaker 1: around the country right now that our teams just figured
Speaker 1: out how to do. We figured out how to sell
Speaker 1: Hamburgers to your front door, delivered via FedEx with a
Speaker 1: new partner um and constantly thinking about how do we
Speaker 1: work six ft away from each other, how do we
Speaker 1: keep delivery drivers safe and away from each other, which
Speaker 1: is a great challenge, and yet how do we slowly
Speaker 1: build back these sales. There's some shake Shacks that today,
Speaker 1: in the last couple of weeks have actually done more
Speaker 1: sales than they did last year during this time. That
Speaker 1: blows my mind. And it's only because of the entrepreneurial
Speaker 1: spirit of this team. Uh, they gotta keep going. They're
Speaker 1: gonna keep defining how we're going to get out of
Speaker 1: this and and that's the most exciting thing. And that's
Speaker 1: where on the other side of this, we've already started
Speaker 1: saying we're gonna think about shake Shacks differently. We're gonna
Speaker 1: be that community gathering place more than we've ever been,
Speaker 1: because without question, I believe humans need to gather with
Speaker 1: humans and as soon as we're allowed at some level,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do it. And Shake Shack is going to
Speaker 1: be a place they choose. But in the meantime, we've
Speaker 1: got to be more convenient, we've got to be safer,
Speaker 1: and no matter how you want it, we've got to
Speaker 1: provide that our team is going to be the ones
Speaker 1: to answer that, and they're doing that now. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get too in the weeds with this,
Speaker 1: but I know you had some pushback on social media
Speaker 1: Danny when well, when we I don't know who wants
Speaker 1: to take this or Randy, when shake Shack received a
Speaker 1: ten million dollar P P P loan which has since
Speaker 1: been returned. You said, Danny that you understand the frustration,
Speaker 1: but you believe that the criticism was was really misdirected. Danny,
Speaker 1: mind if I take that too, because I don't mind
Speaker 1: at all. I'll look, I'll start Katie. We had, as
Speaker 1: every government opportunity has been presented, the p p P
Speaker 1: loans immediately to us became an opportunity to keep more
Speaker 1: of our team employed for a longer period. Uh No
Speaker 1: one during that time imagined that the very small businesses
Speaker 1: who was intended for would not be able to be
Speaker 1: getting the money. As soon as we received the money
Speaker 1: that we applied for, under the terms of the loan.
Speaker 1: You started to hear those those stories you started here,
Speaker 1: the smallest businesses couldn't get it, if you didn't have
Speaker 1: a banking relationship, you couldn't get it. And and we
Speaker 1: went through that very quickly, and Danny and I and
Speaker 1: our teams we got on the phone that weekend and
Speaker 1: we said, this isn't right, This wasn't in turn meant
Speaker 1: for us. Um, we're gonna give it back, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna lead a national conversation. And shake Check was the
Speaker 1: first company to give it back, to explain why we
Speaker 1: thought it was appropriate in the first place, and how
Speaker 1: we were giving it back immediately. And I believe that
Speaker 1: that move caused a national conversation that has caused so
Speaker 1: many other companies that also give it back but improve
Speaker 1: the terms of the next round of funding, which is
Speaker 1: now in playing. You're already hearing as challenging as it
Speaker 1: is still for so many it has gone so far,
Speaker 1: and we Danny and I's inboxes have been filled with
Speaker 1: facts from small business owners saying thank you for leading us,
Speaker 1: thank you for starting this conversation. It was not easy.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of questions about it, and we feel
Speaker 1: incredibly proud of the leadership role we were able to
Speaker 1: play in this moment. Danny, you're on the state advisory
Speaker 1: group that will guide the reopening of New York So
Speaker 1: can you us tell us a little bit about that
Speaker 1: and how that's going to work, and how you're coordinating
Speaker 1: and some of the key leaders you're talking to. Well,
Speaker 1: I wish I could, Katie. I'm also trying to do
Speaker 1: it for New York City NYC and Company as well. Um.
Speaker 1: I was very happy to answer the call when Governor
Speaker 1: Cuomo's team said, will you be one of a hundred
Speaker 1: people on the committee? I think it's called Onward New York,
Speaker 1: and it's it's for all of New York State, and
Speaker 1: I think I'm one of probably of the hundred people
Speaker 1: on the committee, probably six of us come from the
Speaker 1: restaurant industry. So we haven't had a meeting yet. I
Speaker 1: think this was announced in anticipation of of figuring out
Speaker 1: how this group would actually provide input. I don't know
Speaker 1: whether it's going to be industry by industry, whether it
Speaker 1: might be the cultural institutions, the sports institutions, you know, uh, finance,
Speaker 1: real estate, whatever, whatever. There's lots and lots of different aspects.
Speaker 1: What I will say is that while I have not
Speaker 1: been asked any questions yet, um, I'm beginning to ask
Speaker 1: a lot of the questions myself. And one thing we
Speaker 1: know about this is that this impacts all of us.
Speaker 1: This rising tide is going to either lift or drop
Speaker 1: all boats. And so the one thing I do want
Speaker 1: to do is make it as clear as I can
Speaker 1: that I want to be a vehicle or a vessel
Speaker 1: through which other restaurateurs can share their thoughts, their ideas.
Speaker 1: We all know what our fears are. I don't need
Speaker 1: a whole lot of help on that. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: been pretty bleak, But I think that getting to the
Speaker 1: point that that our industry can make the changes it needs,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna need some governmental help on that so
Speaker 1: that we can get reopened. You know, the funding that
Speaker 1: you were talking to Randy about actually doesn't even work
Speaker 1: for most restaurants. So with all the hullabaloo, uh, believe
Speaker 1: it or not, I've as much as I've heard positive
Speaker 1: response uh from people saying what a great decision shake
Speaker 1: Shack made to lead the way. I've heard from restaurateurs
Speaker 1: who got the funds and who said why are you
Speaker 1: out there moralizing and preventing us, uh, you know, from
Speaker 1: using our funds without being embarrassed about it. And I've
Speaker 1: also heard from restaurateurs who said, we wish we had
Speaker 1: had a banking relationships so we could have gotten them.
Speaker 1: But guess what, Katie, I've also heard from a ton
Speaker 1: of people who said, these funds don't work anyway for
Speaker 1: restaurants because it is a nonforgivable loan for which you're
Speaker 1: on the hook if you do not rehire the proponerance
Speaker 1: of your team by June, and the full service restaurant
Speaker 1: industry will not be ready to rehire the proponance of
Speaker 1: their team by June. And so one of the things
Speaker 1: I want to do on this commission. Now that's a
Speaker 1: federal law, but I also think that there are state opportunities.
Speaker 1: They can be very very helpful regulatory wise, and also
Speaker 1: some of the taxation aspects as well as some of
Speaker 1: the landlord kind of controls that happened staywide. So I'll
Speaker 1: be taking in as many good as ideas as I
Speaker 1: can and then try faithfully to communicate those to the
Speaker 1: to the advisory committee. You know, I'm just thinking, just
Speaker 1: hearing you guys, for all the New Yorkers who have
Speaker 1: loved your restaurants for many years, who have found so
Speaker 1: much joy and community, not to mention great food. Um,
Speaker 1: can can people just I know their gift cards? For example,
Speaker 1: a friend of mine sent over a dinner we're in
Speaker 1: East Hampton from a local restaurant because she wanted to
Speaker 1: support that restaurant. UM. I guess that's just one example.
Speaker 1: But are there other things that people can do to
Speaker 1: help to help rise those boats? If you will, Danny,
Speaker 1: There's two things I would say, Katie. One is continue
Speaker 1: to talk about the importance that restaurants play in your
Speaker 1: life and and in the economic life of this country.
Speaker 1: I think that until this moment, that the vast majority
Speaker 1: of Americans. I don't say this in a in a
Speaker 1: negative way, but I just don't think they understood how
Speaker 1: impactful restaurants are to the overall economy of the country.
Speaker 1: There are six sixty thousand restaurants in America, second largest
Speaker 1: employer next to government. I don't know that the average
Speaker 1: American knew that. I think that because there's so many
Speaker 1: were not looked at like the auto industry or like
Speaker 1: the airline industry, where you can kind of get your
Speaker 1: arms around it so be be aware of it. And
Speaker 1: I think that that that has risen to the national conversation.
Speaker 1: When a restaurant goes out of business, it it impacts
Speaker 1: the economy in a massive way. And it's it's the
Speaker 1: people who work there. It is people not buying food
Speaker 1: at a certain point um from their suppliers or beverages.
Speaker 1: There are societal issues as well. When a restaurant is closed,
Speaker 1: your neighborhood feels different. Just think about when you've walked
Speaker 1: by a closed restaurant. It doesn't feel as good, doesn't
Speaker 1: feel as safe. And then I would also say that
Speaker 1: restaurants play such an important part in the emotional fabric
Speaker 1: of this country, which is it's where you go. Like
Speaker 1: this month, the month of May, we have graduations, we
Speaker 1: have weddings. It would have been baseball season, it would
Speaker 1: have been the Kentucky Derby, and all these things that
Speaker 1: just feel good to people to celebrate and where food
Speaker 1: plays a role, just aren't happening right now. The other
Speaker 1: really cool thing about restaurants is that the people who
Speaker 1: work in restaurants do it because they love relationships. They
Speaker 1: love when they see you come in, they love when
Speaker 1: they see their regulars who are always on table forty
Speaker 1: two or forty one. They love that they know that
Speaker 1: my wife is allergic to lobster, and somehow that makes
Speaker 1: her feel good that they remember that. If everyone in
Speaker 1: America wrote a two sentence email to someone who they
Speaker 1: know who works in a who worked in a restaurant
Speaker 1: and just said we miss you and can't wait till
Speaker 1: you guys reopen, if you only knew what that would
Speaker 1: be worth, just emotionally, that would feel great when we
Speaker 1: come back. Danny and Randy with a pep talk not
Speaker 1: only for their employees, but for all of us. Restaurants
Speaker 1: are not only the places we choose to celebrate our
Speaker 1: milestones and special occasions. They're also the careers and livelihoods
Speaker 1: of the more than twelve million people who work in
Speaker 1: the industry. Because these are some very anxiety producing times
Speaker 1: for those people, I asked Randy Garuti and Danny Meyer
Speaker 1: for some words of encouragement. First, Randy, I would continue
Speaker 1: to believe that sometime, not far from now, we are
Speaker 1: going to be able to be shoulder shoulder together. I
Speaker 1: think the most powerful thing we can all do right
Speaker 1: now for each other is when we go to a restaurant,
Speaker 1: or when you see the FedEx driver uh come up
Speaker 1: to your house to bring you food to keep you alive,
Speaker 1: or when you go to a grocery store or ride
Speaker 1: a bus that you looked that person in the eye.
Speaker 1: Eyes are still not covered last time I checked, and
Speaker 1: you say thank you, and you really mean it, and
Speaker 1: you really really sincerely man. And I think if we
Speaker 1: do that for each other and remind each other that
Speaker 1: that this truly is temporary, it is even as uncertain
Speaker 1: as it is, and we look towards a future where
Speaker 1: we will add again. Um. I think that's that's all
Speaker 1: we need. One day at a time, one hour at
Speaker 1: a time, one hopeful, caring human being to another at
Speaker 1: a time. Danny, do you want to add anything to that?
Speaker 1: I guess what I want to say is, Um, if
Speaker 1: you're someone listening to this and you're feeling anxious, so
Speaker 1: am I and and I think that there's room to
Speaker 1: feel anxious and and hopeful at the same time. I
Speaker 1: think anxiety is a very natural human response to not
Speaker 1: knowing what's around the next corner. What I don't want
Speaker 1: to see happen to people is to anticipate that the
Speaker 1: thing around the next corner is going to be even worse. UM,
Speaker 1: and therefore live in that and that feeling of what
Speaker 1: you anticipate might be worse, because I really think that, UM,
Speaker 1: and I really pray that the worst is behind us
Speaker 1: at this point. I think that the there's still going
Speaker 1: to be a lot of of pain and hurt and
Speaker 1: illness in this country, and we've got to stay resolute
Speaker 1: as we have been to this point, otherwise this thing
Speaker 1: is going to come back. But I do believe that
Speaker 1: we are at a point where UM, we for the
Speaker 1: first time we I couldn't have had this conversation two
Speaker 1: weeks ago about how do we potentially see reopening restaurants.
Speaker 1: I just couldn't see beyond the safety aspects of it.
Speaker 1: Now I have to be able to host both of
Speaker 1: those things, which is human survival and and then what's
Speaker 1: next for the business to survive as well. Again, I
Speaker 1: do want to just say that our our guests have
Speaker 1: been amazing so far. We've only reached out asking people
Speaker 1: either to buy gift cards that we were then contribute
Speaker 1: of the revenues to our to our fund UM and
Speaker 1: or to buy auction items or in some cases contribute
Speaker 1: auction items, Um, and Katie, if you ask me one
Speaker 1: more time, I'm going to get you hooked into having
Speaker 1: cocktails with Katie and Danny. Hey, I'd be glad to
Speaker 1: do that, but you know, I don't know if that
Speaker 1: would get I don't know if that would get much money,
Speaker 1: you guys, But if anyone out there wants to pay
Speaker 1: for that, I am definitely in. And that does it
Speaker 1: for this episode of Next Question. The interview with Danny
Speaker 1: Meyer and Randy Garuty was recorded as a part of
Speaker 1: a virtual Shake Shack leadership retreat and was edited for
Speaker 1: this podcast. You can keep up with all of my
Speaker 1: interviews as well as the day's most important news by
Speaker 1: subscribing to my morning newsletter, wake Up Call. You can
Speaker 1: find that at Katie Couric dot com and to subscribe
Speaker 1: to Next Question, and please do look for us on
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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. Until next time at my
Speaker 1: Next Question, I'm Katie Couric. Thanks so much for listening everyone.
Speaker 1: Next Question with Katie Couric is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Katie Currik Media. The executive producers are
Speaker 1: Katie Curic, Courtney Litz, and Tyler Klang. The supervising producer
Speaker 1: is Lauren Hansen. Our show producer is Bethan Macaluso. The
Speaker 1: associate producers are Emily Pinto and Derek Clements. Editing by
Speaker 1: Derrek Clements, Dylan Fagan and Lowell Berlante, Mixing by Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1: Our researcher is Gabriel Loser. For more information on today's episode,
Speaker 1: go to Katie Couric dot com and follow us on
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