When Skip Quillen tried to open Pazzo! Cucina Italiana 25 years ago, he hit a snag. “We had a hard time getting waiters, because waiters didn’t want to bet on a new restaurant. And what happened was about a week before we were about to open, we realized these waiters were horrible,” Quillen said.

In what would become emblematic of his team-centric attitude, Quillen delayed the opening by a week, coached his staff through more training and reduced the number of tables for each server.