Rating: 
Summary: Excellence in reading material
Review: A must read for anyone not just in the resaurant business but in any business. Learn what it takes to succeed in managing your company. Tips from a top CEO!
Rating: 
Summary: Better if "as told to" rather than "as interpreted by"
Review: As a big fan of Trotter and his innovation and creativity, I was excited to read this book. Unfortunately, it's just not very good. Mr. Clarke uses a notion or two per chapter that Trotter has applied as a successful entrepeneur, then boils it down, oversimplifies it, and creates tedious little pop quizzes of the "rate yourself" variety. It's as if he doesn't know whether he's writing a do-it-yourself workbook or a study of business. Clarke's very intrusive and heavy-handed, and this blunts the force of the good observations he does make. All in all, Clarke's interpretations of Trotter's wisdom lack the ring of authenticity of someone who's actually done what he espouses. This would be a lot better if it was actually Trotter doing the teaching.
Rating: 
Summary: culinary excellence
Review: Charlie Trotter, what a great chef and entrepreneur. This book is for the People who want one day to own a buisness. Reading this book gives you the aspects of running a restaurant and being the best. Having passion for this line of work, he cant stress more. Without passion for food or being sucsessful it will not work. Charlie Trotter gives great lessons in excellence, from hiring anf firing, to running a kitchen without rasing a voice
Rating:
Summary: culinary excellence
Review: Charlie Trotter, what a great chef and entrepreneur. This book is for the People who want one day to own a buisness. Reading this book gives you the aspects of running a restaurant and being the best. Having passion for this line of work, he cant stress more. Without passion for food or being sucsessful it will not work. Charlie Trotter gives great lessons in excellence, from hiring anf firing, to running a kitchen without rasing a voice
Rating: 
Summary: Where are the Lessons?
Review: I found the book to be void of any new leadership "Lessons" and to be particularly skimpy on any real "Lessons from Charlie". Ok, so someone leads each guest to the restroom and checks to see that it's in order and his servers wear double-stick tape on their shoes. But other than those two specifics, there's just no Charlie Trotter flavor to the book. (And, I'd personally be totally uncomfortable having someone follow me to the ladies' room every chance I got up. Can't they straighten the room on someone else's time, not while I'm waiting to use it?) The book talks about Trotter's passion, but fails to explain or illustrate his inspiration and execution. The book is dull, with no feeling for the fire that incents Trotter. I'd love to know how he goes about changing the menu every day. There has to be a process to his creativity, not just the outcome. But we're left with nothing. For the first time in my life, I threw the book away. There was no one I could imagine who would be willing to waste the time I had on the book.
Rating:
Summary: A good lesson indeed....
Review: I happen to find this book very interesting. It gives you some insight as to how Charlie Trotter runs his restaurant in Chicago. For anyone who knows of this restaurant, you will know how successful it is and how much pull Charlie Trotter has in the restaurant business. This book won't teach you how to become a better person in life, but what it will do is teach all of us how to be more effective in the workplace. We all think we know the best way to run a business, but the truth is you can't do any of it without a great team of minds to assist you along the way. This book was very informative. I, for one, always wanted to know some of the secrets myself about this place. The restaurant hardly ever drops the ball when it comes to providing a great dining experience. This book would be great for managers, VP's, and directors of any company. Not just the restaurant business. It explains how to treat your workers with respect and how to also tighten the ropes when you need to get things accomplished sooner than you already are without killing the integrity of the worker. All in all, a really good book. Buy this if you are a fan of the restaurant or would like a good idea of how the place has run over the last 12 years.
Rating:
Summary: A good lesson indeed....
Review: I happen to find this book very interesting. It gives you some insight as to how Charlie Trotter runs his restaurant in Chicago. For anyone who knows of this restaurant, you will know how successful it is and how much pull Charlie Trotter has in the restaurant business. This book won't teach you how to become a better person in life, but what it will do is teach all of us how to be more effective in the workplace. We all think we know the best way to run a business, but the truth is you can't do any of it without a great team of minds to assist you along the way. This book was very informative. I, for one, always wanted to know some of the secrets myself about this place. The restaurant hardly ever drops the ball when it comes to providing a great dining experience. This book would be great for managers, VP's, and directors of any company. Not just the restaurant business. It explains how to treat your workers with respect and how to also tighten the ropes when you need to get things accomplished sooner than you already are without killing the integrity of the worker. All in all, a really good book. Buy this if you are a fan of the restaurant or would like a good idea of how the place has run over the last 12 years.
Rating:
Summary: If Excellence is your Goal, there are lessons for you
Review: This is both an interesting and boring work, due to the insights shared from Charlie Trotter's success. The boring stuff is the repitition of common-sense advice which everyone knows but few implement habitually. This is what separates the mediocre from the excellent. Trotter maintains an atomosphere of excellence, from his hiring practices to discipline to innovation to publicity, etc. One can certainly take much from this work to ponder about possible adaptation for one's own enterprise.
Rating:
Summary: If Excellence is your Goal, there are lessons for you
Review: This is both an interesting and boring work, due to the insights shared from Charlie Trotter's success. The boring stuff is the repitition of common-sense advice which everyone knows but few implement habitually. This is what separates the mediocre from the excellent. Trotter maintains an atomosphere of excellence, from his hiring practices to discipline to innovation to publicity, etc. One can certainly take much from this work to ponder about possible adaptation for one's own enterprise.
Rating:
Summary: Where are the Lessons?
Review: What does a $100 per person, prix fixe', 7 course gourmet dinner have to do with your business? Everything, if you believe Paul Clarke. For those who might not know, Charlie Trotter's is an award-winning restaurant located in Chicago. I haven't yet been able to save up the $300 needed to eat there, but, from what I hear, it's an experience you'll not soon forget. Back to the book -- this is a tough call. I like it. I hate it. I can't make up my mind. And maybe that's because it's almost like reading three different books. First, it's a semi-bio of Charlie Trotter: his restaurant, how he runs it, his marketing strategies, his continual quest for excellence, his ongoing mission to make the dining experience in his restaurant extraordinary. Secondly, it's an examination of how you can apply the pursuit of excellence to your business. Both these aspects make it an interesting read. Then there's this underlying, ongoing discussion of having employees 'buy in' to your vision for your business. Though Clarke emphasizes rewarding this loyalty, and Trotter does so, I can say from my own experience, it just ain't so! I found myself talking back to Clarke as I read. My husband thought I was going gaga. But I was so angry! Much of what Clarke says feels manipulative to me. When I was an employee I was an excellent employee. I was the one who came in early, stayed late, did whatever it took, asked for more responsibility -- in other words I played the game. It seems as though all the suggestions favor the employer rather than the employee. And this is where I get bogged down. I'm torn. As an employee, I was used & abused too many times by the companies I worked for. And I know I'm not the only one. But, as a small business owner, I'd want my employees to act exactly as Clarke suggests. It feels wrong, although I can't put my finger on exactly why that is. I suppose any book that elicits this kind of response must be read. That's my recommendation to you. If you hate the management advice, you'll love the discussions about food, wine, & the restaurant experience.
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