“Regardless of what business you might be in, we are all in the business of serving other people” said renowned restaurateur and best-selling author Will Guidara at the opening session of the 2025 Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC).

Serving members is at the core of every credit union embodied by the "people helping people” focus. Guidara explained that to truly serve people, providing unreasonable hospitality is the goal. That means not only maximizing efficiencies but slowing down to capture key details for personalized, impactful service.  

Guidara shared with GAC attendees the importance of taking the time to understand what each person needs in that moment. “In unreasonable hospitality, one-size-fits-one. The greatest gestures will always be bespoke to the individual,” Guidara explained.

In his experience as an owner of Eleven Madison Park, rated the World’s Best Restaurant in 2017, he found people remembered those moments of service focused on their unique needs, rather than the food itself. These could be both big and small, from Tiffany glasses for newly engaged couples to toast their moment, to making sure a table of diners didn’t miss out on trying an authentic New York City street-cart hot dog before they left town. Instead, Guidara incorporated a hot dog he purchased himself as part of their multi-course meal.

“I’d never seen anyone react to anything I have served them like they did to that hot dog. They freaked out. I really believe that I could have given that same table a bottle of vintage champagne and a giant bucket of caviar, but it would not have had the same impact as that two-dollar hot dog. It wouldn’t have been specific to them.”

Guidara explained that this unreasonable hospitality is something credit unions can incorporate.  Listening, slowing down, and providing a truly unique experience is a win for everyone: your bottom line, staff members, and most importantly - those you serve.

“It’s nothing short of extraordinary the role you play for people in their lives: Walking with them during those seasons of anxiety, helping them to set a foundation for the lives they want to live, teach them, comfort them, prepare them, hold them, celebrate them. When that’s the case, why not just imbue it with some magic?”