Four years ago, John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor who just ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, asked the restaurant owner Danny Meyer to address a convention of state governors.
Hickenlooper did not do this because he wanted Meyer to whip up a meal, provide cooking tips or discuss employment and earnings in the restaurant trade. (Meyer founded Shake Shack, a national chain, and runs a number of high-end restaurants such as The Modern and Union Square Cafe in New York.) Instead, Hickenlooper had a more urgent question: what could — or should — we all learn from the restaurant world to improve 21st-century politics? Could Congress or state legislatures find inspiration in the nation’s kitchens?
At first glance, that may seem a weird idea. After all, we do not expect our elected leaders to behave like chefs, and government is supposed to be preoccupied with loftier goals than eating out. But Hickenlooper has a background in hospitality, having co-founded a brewery business before entering politics, and has long been fascinated by the little-noticed parallels between the two worlds. “Whether you are running a state or a restaurant, three things are the same,” he told the governors. “You never have enough cash . . . you have a diverse group of people you need to make into a team — and the public is always angry about something.”