#48 Eddie Heintz: Can You Really Teach Hospitality?

Most people think hospitality is about smiling and serving. Eddie Heintz says they’re wrong.

He’s the Director of Hospitality at Caymus Vineyards and the author of Making Welcome, a book that blends Buddhist insight, Hawaiian spirit, and hard-earned lessons from decades in fine dining. He believes kindness is a skill, not a trait and, most importantly, that it can be trained, practiced, and measured like any craft.

In this conversation, Eddie reveals how he went from bartending at TGI Fridays to running service at one of Napa’s most celebrated wineries. He talks about the managers who promoted him with no training, the heartbreak that led him to The Four Agreements, and the angry guests who taught him more than any leadership seminar.

We unpack the real definition of hospitality, the power of seeing people when they feel invisible, and why the spirit of aloha changed how he leads teams and lives his life.

Expect to Learn

• Why “you can’t teach hospitality” is a lie
• The difference between service and genuine care
• How Eckhart Tolle and Buddhist practice show up in restaurant life
• The Four Agreements as a management framework
• What to do when a guest melts down
• How to lead people you might need to let go
• Why small kindnesses build real profit

Links

• Get in touch
• His website ()
• His book, Making Welcome
• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

Service starts now.

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I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost.

Classic Episodes You May Like:

• #22:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doug Frost MW MS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• #23:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jeffrey Morgenthaler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• #31:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• #38:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• #39:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• #46:⁠Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine⁠

As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.

Cheers