195: 250 Years of American Hospitality

Titans of Hospitality: What 250 Years of American Service Can Teach Us About What's Next

America is about to turn 250, and the story of who we are as a country cannot be told without the story of how we serve. From the frontier to the drive through to the Apple Store, hospitality is one of the most American art forms we have. It is also one of the most misunderstood. On this Independence Day, let's celebrate the titans who created american hospitality.

In this episode, I walk through the leaders who built the way we welcome, feed, host, and wow. 

• We have evolved from commodity to product to service to experience. Up next is transformation and impact.
• We start with Fred Harvey, the English immigrant who civilized the American West one white tablecloth at a time and put the first professional service workforce on the map. 
• We meet the woman behind the scenes, Mary Colter, whose Grand Canyon architecture proved that the room itself is part of the hospitality.
• Then we hit the road with Howard Johnson, whose orange roof became a national promise and go global with Conrad Hilton, who believed hotels could be consistent, clean, and outstanding at the same time.
• We spend time with Walt Disney, who engineered the immersrive experience and Truett Cathy, who anchored the whole thing in values + people.
• We look at Steve Jobs, the outsider who leaned into hospitality in his stores, and the man who built the third place, Howard Schultz. 
• We finish with Ray Kroc and his gift for standardization and scale. 

This is a walk through our first 250 years of service, told from the perspective of how it impacted the customer.

Perfect for: hospitality leaders, business owners, CEOS, COOs, CX/EX professionals, operational managers, retail and service teams, training and development leaders, and anyone responsible for people and performance (and sales growth).

 

Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy 

Links & Resources:

📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/

📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL 

📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits

📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l  📌 Get your restaurant healthcheck as mentioned in the show at https://www.4xi360.com/diagnostix 

 

Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitalit