Can a person learn the art of hospitality?

That’s the question the organizers of the first Welcome Conference want to pose to participants both within and outside the restaurant industry. This sold-out, service-focused event will be held in New York City on June 17, and the team behind it hopes their message will spread.

“Service is black and white, hospitality is color,” says Will Guidara, one of the organizers. He’s the co-owner and restaurateur of Eleven Madison Park and The NoMad in New York; the former most recently earned the No. 4 spot on San Pellegrino’s notably buzzworthy World’s 50 Best Restaurants List.

What he’s talking about is the somewhat recent trend of restaurants extending beyond traditional service and taking extra measures - like Googling guests or handling special occasions - to make their diners feel like active and unique participants in their own experience.

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After a one-year stint in the number two spot, René Redzepi's Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark, has been declared the best restaurant in the world - marking its fourth time as the top seed.

Restaurant magazine announced the honor as it unveiled its "World's 50 Best Restaurants" list at London's Guildhall on Monday. The annual event, sponsored by  S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, is a celebration of the crème de la crème of global gastronomy.

The list, now in its 12th year, is curated by 900 restaurant international leaders, including chefs, food critics and restaurateurs.
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Step inside some of Europe's top restaurants and you wouldn't know there had been a global financial meltdown a few years ago. These temples to haute cuisine are still unashamedly, perhaps reassuringly, expensive.

In this rarefied world of showy dining, the cost of a single dish nudges into three figures. And that's before you pay $1,000 for a bottle of wine.
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Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing says his customers are no longer interested in stiff French service. He's opting for a warmer, American model of hospitality, and his staff of being retrained to offer hospitality with a smile and read the guests.
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