Running a business is a lot like running a restaurant. Your clients make a booking (or hit your website), they arrive with expectations, and what happens next shapes whether they leave satisfied, surprised, or searching for something better. In Unreasonable Hospitality, restaurateur Will Guidara shows us just how powerful carefully crafted moments can be when they're backed by systems that support surprise, delight, and consistency. For leaders designing or refining their business systems, Guidara's approach offers more than inspiration; it provides a blueprint.

At Via Technology, we believe that technology and people should work in harmony.

This means designing systems not just to run your operations efficiently, but to elevate the customer experience on purpose. Here's how you can use lessons from Unreasonable Hospitality to do just that.

Map the Experience Before You Optimise the Tools

Just like a dinner service, your business offers a journey. Customers discover you, engage, get onboarded, receive ongoing service, and eventually reach a point of renewal, upsell, or farewell. These touchpoints are not just checkpoints, they are moments of influence. Guidara didn't just train staff to be polite; he meticulously mapped every micro-moment in a guest's journey, designing intentional opportunities for care, connection, and creativity.

Every detail, from the way a napkin is folded to the tone of a welcome, was planned. He understood that you cannot improve what you haven’t mapped. Businesses often jump to systemising tasks before they have clarity on the experience they want to deliver. Start by outlining the emotional arc of your customer’s journey and build systems that make those feelings intentional.

One practical thing you can do right now:

Draw your customer journey as if it were a restaurant experience. Where are they greeted? When are they offered water (aka value)? When do you present the "dessert"? These aren’t just moments, they are opportunities to systemise delight.

Build Systems That Empower People to Surprise

One of the most memorable takeaways from Guidara's approach is how he gave his team the tools and trust to go above and beyond. His restaurants weren’t filled with mindless rule-followers. Instead, staff were encouraged to act on instinct and empowered to personalise each guest’s experience. From custom cocktails created on the spot to thoughtful gestures like handwritten notes, these acts weren’t random. They were the result of embedded systems that gave people both permission and structure.

Empowerment is not chaos. It's a form of structured freedom, where your systems provide just enough scaffolding to let people shine.

The lesson here is: strategic business systems don’t just automate tasks. They empower your team to personalise, adapt and surprise. Build frameworks, not straitjackets.

One practical thing you can do right now:

Create a "Delight Budget" for your team. Set a modest monthly amount they can use to surprise clients in meaningful ways. Then, update your internal playbook to include examples and guidelines so everyone feels confident using it.

Frictionless Basics Are Non-Negotiable

In hospitality, no amount of charm can make up for a cold meal or a long wait. Likewise, in your business, no amount of personalisation can cover up clunky onboarding, slow invoicing, or inconsistent communication. Guidara was famously obsessive about flawless operations. His commitment to the fundamentals was what allowed the flourishes of hospitality to truly shine.

Frictionless basics are the quiet heroes of any remarkable experience. They often go unnoticed by customers, but they are always felt. These are the well-oiled systems that ensure every email gets sent on time, every step of delivery is clear, and every follow-up is timely. When the basics are seamless, you create space for creative moments of surprise without risking credibility.

Highly practical move:

Audit your foundational systems. Where are the delays, clunky steps or double-handling? Fix these first. Delight is built on the back of reliability. If you haven’t audited your tech stack in the last 6 months (or longer!), it’s time. Check out our Tech Sprint.

Make Values Visible in Your Systems

Hospitality, as Guidara describes it, is not about grand gestures. It is about making people feel seen. That philosophy was embedded into every system at his restaurant. Whether it was the way reservations were handled, how allergies were remembered, or how names were used, each process was a reflection of a deeper value.

Your business systems should be no different. They are not just operational necessities, they are cultural transmitters. A business that values transparency might embed status updates throughout a client project. One that values generosity might send surprise bonuses or tips as part of a feedback loop. When your systems reflect your values, your culture becomes lived, not laminated.

Practical insight:

Review one of your business systems this week.

Ask: does this process reflect our values? Does our technology enable operations? Are our people aligned and opening the outcomes?  If not, redesign your system. Strategic systemisation should always serve culture, not just efficiency. Check our Systems Scorecard below for a business-wide systems audit.

Will Guidara didn’t win accolades for having the flashiest tech or the most efficient workflows. He won them by crafting unforgettable experiences and backing them with systems that made delight scalable. The same applies to your business. When you intentionally design your strategic business systems, you create a foundation for experiences that matter: to your team, your customers and your bottom line.

This week, take at least one of the strategies above and apply it. Then, if you’re ready to see where your systems stand, use our Systems Scorecard to find the gaps and opportunities hiding in plain sight. Start designing systems that serve people.