#231 - Hospitality Meets Dan Barnes - Cutlery Polishing & Culture Building

This week, I sat down with Dan Barnes, Managing Director of Flourish Hospitality, a learning and development consultancy built on one simple idea: that every moment in hospitality is a chance to help someone grow.

Dan’s story is one of those brilliant hospitality journeys that started with polishing cutlery and pretending to be a grown-up in a suit and somehow led to building learning cultures across hotels, restaurants and private members’ clubs.

From Marriott to Edwardian Hotels, Caprice Holdings and now Flourish, Dan’s career has been a masterclass in curiosity, creativity, and learning the hard (but hilarious) way.

In this episode, Dan and I dive into…

• How he went from dreaming of being a history teacher to becoming hospitality’s go-to L&D guru
• The lessons learned from Marriott’s graduate scheme (and a haggis-related feedback story you won’t forget)
• His time at Edwardian Hotels, where he built a Food & Beverage Academy and developed “The Service World to Stage” program
• Why L&D in hospitality is the only truly positive role in HR
• The realities of pre-opening a major hotel and the mantra that kept him sane
• The joy (and chaos) of opening Annabel’s and running training for 1,500 people at Caprice Holdings
• Why feedback hurts, but silence in a training room hurts more
• And the beautiful truth that great hospitality isn’t an act, it’s genuine human connection

Dan Barnes Quotes

“Learning and development is the one truly positive role where every interaction is positive.”

“It doesn’t have to be perfect for it to be wonderful.”

“If you’re good at L&D, you build rapport — which is essentially hospitality skills.”

“You can’t inspire people on day one with food safety. Orientation should be about joining the journey.”

“As long as you’re passionate about hospitality, you can find a career anywhere.”

Why this episode is worth your time

Dan embodies everything great about hospitality learning, heart, humour, and humility.

This episode is packed with wisdom for anyone who’s ever tried to train, lead, or inspire a team while the fire alarm’s going off.

It’s honest, it’s funny, and it’s full of lessons about resilience, storytelling, and why you should always leave space for people to find their own answers.

Show Partners

A big shout out to Today’s show partner, RotaCloud, the people management platform for shift-based teams.

RotaCloud lets managers create and share rotas, record attendance, and manage annual leave in minutes — all from a single, web-based app.

It makes work simple for your team, too, allowing them to check their rotas, request holiday, and even pick up extra shifts straight from their phones.

Try RotaCloud’s time-saving tools today by heading to https://rotacloud.com/phil