Consulting & Investment

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Partner With Us

Founded by Danny Meyer with the opening of Union Square Cafe in 1985, Union Square Hospitality Group now extends beyond the walls of it’s eateries. 

From executing full-scale restaurant design, to leading bespoke company-wide training courses, our seasoned team of industry leaders are here to bring your strategic vision to life. 

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Professional Development

Hospitality Quotient

Our learning and development program, Hospitality Quotient, invites clients to uncover the power of hospitality for their business. Through small in-person consultations, keynote speaking events, and company-wide training programs, we help global organizations tap into enlightened hospitality as a business differentiator. Sound like you?

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Investment & Growth

Enlightened Hospitality Investments

Enlightened Hospitality Investments is a growth fund comprised of entrepreneurs, operators, and investors with over 35 years in the hospitality industry and beyond. We back proven businesses with winning ideas, bring access to a like-minded community, and offer a deep bench of expertise to help drive our portfolio companies' growth. Interested in partnering with us?

Enlightened Hospitality Investments→

OUR PARTNERS

Union Square Events

Founded in 2006 as a branch of USHG, Union Square Events has grown into a premier hospitality provider with a broad portfolio of event spaces and services. While no longer operated under the USHG umbrella, USE continues to build on Danny Meyer’s philosophy of Enlightened Hospitality, shaping the events landscape through its innovative approach to catering, sports and cultural venues, workplace hospitality, and consulting.

Consulting Services by Union Square Events

  • Building best-in-class execution. Whether training an existing team, developing a new one or helping to find the right operational partners, we will make sure your operating team is set up for success.

    Progressing beyond project specific elements, such as operating procedures and recipe execution, we also offer ongoing support into quality assurance focused on the following areas:

    • Operational Efficiency  Development and review of SOPs, menu innovation and assessment, preliminary labor models

    • Management – reviewing financial metrics and controls, cost of goods sold (COGS), operating costs

  • To ensure integrity and holistic consistency within projects, the culinary development phase will set up the F&B program for maximum success, understanding the brand’s goals for an elevated market offering and programming.

    Working together with you, we work to define your goals to successfully launch a curated F&B offering. 

    Areas of support include:

    ▪ Create menu structure and strategy (develop concept direction and guidelines)
    ▪ Define a menu that works within physical parameters
    ▪ Find ways to localize offer for market
    ▪ Define the overall menu mix
    ▪ Outline local / sustainable sourcing requirements
    ▪ Refine the number of menu items and offerings
    ▪ Create sample menus to further clarify concept direction
    ▪ Menu training and execution

  • This initial 3–4-week due diligence phase will provide our team with the background and context needed to assess and define your long-term vision. During this phase, we will evaluate your concept’s positioning within the local market, strategize on short-term and long-term goals, and establish the framework for our consulting services.

    Our data analytics team will conduct a comprehensive competitive analysis, identify food trends, and perform a demographic study. 

    This phase will conclude with high-level recommendations for the proposed food and beverage concept.

    Due diligence includes:

    ▪ Project timeline/schedule
    ▪ R&D findings and results
    ▪ SWOT analysis
    ▪ Market overview report
    ▪ Initial, high-level F&B concept direction & alignment

  • We will develop the concept with a hospitality point of view through a holistic brand narrative in conjunction with key stakeholders. Hospitality Lab will then collaborate with the Architect of Record, Interior Designer, and Kitchen Equipment Designers to finalize programing, equipment, front of house & back of house plans, advancing the development into a holistic experience primed for maximum guest experience and operational success.


    Following the scheduling, milestones and processes outlined with the broader project team, we advance the concept execution into Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents and Construction Administration phases.

    Our capabilities include:

    ▪ Mood boards
    ▪ Design direction
    ▪ Floor plans & test fits
    ▪ FOH studies
    ▪ Key elevations
    ▪ FF&E design direction
    ▪ Signage and merchandising and menu design considerations
    ▪ Guest experience and flow studies
    ▪ Document review & comment

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