The trouble with Table 101 (Update)

Planet Money

NPR

Business, News

4.6 • 29.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

(Note: This episode originally ran in 2020.)

In the restaurant game, you need to make the most of every table every minute you are open. And you need to make sure your guests are happy, comfortable, and want to come back.

If you're a restaurateur, your gut tells you "more seats, more money," but, in this episode, restaurant design expert Stephani Robson upends all that and more. She helps Roni Mazumdar, owner of the casual Indian spot Adda in New York's Long Island City, rethink how a customer behaves at a table, and how small changes can lead to a lot more money.

It's a data-driven restaurant makeover.

This episode was originally produced by Darian Woods and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. James Sneed and Sam Yellowhorse Kesler produced this update. Engineering by Isaac Rodrigues and Maggie Luthar. Alex Goldmark originally edited the show and is now Planet Money's executive producer.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Dune Part 2 is here. It's the biggest movie the year so far.
0:04.0	Timothy Shalame and Zandaya bring their star power in two sets of really impressive cheekbones
0:08.0	to this epic space opera, which might even improve on the book it's based on.
0:12.0	We'll talk all about it.
0:13.2	Listen to NPR's pop culture happy hour podcast.
0:18.8	This is Planet Money from NPR.
0:25.0	Hey there, it's Nick Fountain. You know when you go into a restaurant and you're like,
0:27.0	oh, this place is perfect. I can stay here for hours,
0:30.0	they can have all my money, I just want all the the dishes and sometimes it has less to do with
0:34.4	what's on the menu than how the restaurant looks and feels well every time that
0:39.6	happens to me I think back on this show that we did back in 2020, where we hung out with a restaurant
0:46.1	tour and a restaurant consultant who thinks all day about how to squeeze the most out of people like me, the customer, while also trying to provide a great dining experience.
0:57.6	It's a fun show and today we have an update from the restaurant tour at the center of it but first we're going
1:04.3	to listen to the original show here it is you are going to love it.
1:08.7	Dan Pashman hey Sally you will recall the scene. It is last summer, very hot day.
1:15.3	I should have worn shorts.
1:16.9	And you and I show up at a little restaurant
1:19.5	in New York City, specifically in Long Island City, Queens.
1:23.0	It's a casual Indian place called Uda, which translates roughly to Hangout Spot.
1:28.0	And that's the vibe founder Ronnie Muzumdar was going for.
1:31.0	You're Ronnie?
1:32.0	I'm Sally. How are you? Very nice to meet you.
	...

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