The Tottenham manager organised a morale-boosting dinner at Mediterranean restaurant Bacchanalia late last season shortly after taking charge, with the gesture followed by an upturn in form that ultimately kept Spurs in the Premier League on the final day. With his newly assembled squad now four league games into the new campaign without a goal or a win, De Zerbi turned to the same trick again last week.
"We went last week for dinner with all the players," De Zerbi revealed in his pre-match press conference.
"There was something to eat, some water, some beers, yes. It's a pleasure going for dinner with my players."
Asked about picking up the bill, the Italian joked that he was happy to foot it so long as he came away with something for himself.
"It's a pleasure, so long as I keep the money just for the cigarette," he said.
The trip followed a frustrating goalless draw at home to Everton, in which Tottenham started brightly before growing wasteful in the final third. De Zerbi has since urged his players to relax and stop rushing decisions in the attacking third, having previously admitted his squad are wrestling with a mental block after their sluggish start.
"Maybe I'm not objective with my players, but my opinion about my players is maybe different to your opinion," De Zerbi said. "I think they are very good players. We are building a new project, a new team. Taking responsibility if we didn't score and win, but I can't change my opinion about the players if they don't win or don't score."
The 46-year-old was adamant that consistency in approach, rather than wholesale changes, offers the way forward for a club that has cycled through four different managers across the last two seasons.
"If we want to change from the last two or three seasons we have to be stronger here," De Zerbi said, pointing to his head. "And believe in the quality of the players and the decisions we made one month ago. Or we change. You can change players or change coaches, change, change, change, change, and nothing changes.
"Or you stay with the head, stay humble, with the right spirit to work. I believe in my players. I hope they believe in themselves like I believe in them."
Spurs sit 17th in the Premier League table after four rounds, with the club's supporters growing increasingly restless despite De Zerbi's insistence that the underlying performances are improving. Tottenham have controlled large spells of possession in recent weeks without turning that dominance into goals, a pattern that continued against Everton despite 74 visits into the opposition box.