You have the great menu, the food, the wine and the service, but is there still an extra mile you can go? Of course there is, no establishment worthy of note, gets there by living inside it’s four walls. Building a great hospitality business is about providing hospitality. This means reaching out to your guests and making them feel special. It’s about doing something special and remembering people names and preferences. Just think about a few things you can add into your business delivery, make a list and then a schedule to phase these ideas in.

Chicago based restaurateur, Charlie Trotter joined in with his staff to drive home snow bound guests.

In another snow based incident, a hotel I frequent, dug the drive and the chef was towing cars with his jeep. The same place also delivers post to your room.

Some places treat children like smaller diners, which encourages their parents to bring them to places where they can share great food together.

Nothing here is rocket science, but it is hard to do. Many businesses treat extra service or going that bit further as if they were giving something away for free. This is not a discount, a voucher or indeed any form of loyalty scheme but an enrichment of your product that will help you to justify the premium price you should be charging.

If you have any examples of great extras, please let me know.