Every hospitality founder has been told the same thing. Respond to every review. Cassie Davison thinks that advice is wrong, and in this episode she explains exactly why.

Hospitality SME expert, speaker and author Cassie Davison walks through the customer loyalty model from her book Stand Out Hospitality, hostages, mercenaries, disruptors, ghosts, loyal customers and fans, and unpacks why hospitality businesses barely have hostages at all, why chasing mercenaries with vouchers is a losing game, and why the disruptors kicking off online deserve none of your time or energy.

The customers who actually matter are the loyal ones and the fans, the people who walk in and recognise the music, the menu, the room, the other people around them, and think, these are my people. Cassie explains why giving them your full attention, instead of chasing approval from everyone else, is the real work of building a hospitality business people belong to.

This episode is for café owners, restaurant founders, pub landlords and street food traders who are tired of being told to fight for everyone's approval, and for anyone working alongside independent hospitality who wants to understand how these businesses actually think about their customers.

Cassie Davison is the author of Stand Out Hospitality, Highly Commended at The Business Book Awards 2026, and founder of Kith&Kin Hospitality. She holds an MBA and is a Fellow of the British Institute of Innkeeping (FBII), and has spent over 25 years building, losing and rebuilding hospitality businesses.

Who are your people? Cassie wants to know.

📖 Stand Out Hospitality, the book: kithkinhospitality.co.uk/stand-out-hospitality
🔗 Connect with Cassie: linkedin.com/in/cassiedavison1

#StandOutHospitality #KithAndKin #IndependentHospitality #SMEHospitality #HospitalityLeadership #RestaurantOwner #CafeOwner #PubLandlord #StreetFoodBusiness #HospitalityPodcast

Every hospitality operator has a moment they fell in love with the industry. This is mine.

In this episode, hospitality SME expert, speaker and author Cassie Davison traces the real story behind 25 years in independent hospitality, from watching her own parents transform at the pub as a child, to her first jobs behind a bar in Manchester and a summer working at the pub by Foxton Locks. Along the way, she unpacks the three things she believes every person in hospitality falls in love with, whether they've ever put words to it or not: the service, the team, and the chaos.

This episode is for independent hospitality operators, café owners, restaurant founders, pub landlords and street food traders, and for anyone working alongside them who wants to understand what running one of these businesses actually feels like from the inside.

Cassie Davison is the author of Stand Out Hospitality, Highly Commended at The Business Book Awards 2026, and founder of Kith&Kin Hospitality. She holds an MBA and is a Fellow of the British Institute of Innkeeping (FBII), and has spent over 25 years building, losing and rebuilding hospitality businesses.

What made you fall in love with hospitality? Cassie asks every operator she meets, and she's asking you too.

📖 Stand Out Hospitality, the book: kithkinhospitality.co.uk/stand-out-hospitality
🔗 Connect with Cassie: linkedin.com/in/cassiedavison1

#StandOutHospitality #KithAndKin #IndependentHospitality #SMEHospitality #HospitalityLeadership #RestaurantOwner #CafeOwner #PubLandlord #StreetFoodBusiness #HospitalityPodcast

In Conversation