In 2015, a guest at the Cape Heritage Hotel left a review that changed my life… She described our team’s energy as something she’d read about in Setting the Table by Danny Meyer — a book I had never heard of at the time. Her words inspired me to seek out his work, eventually leading me to a course in New York called Creating Raves – a deep dive into the philosophy of hosting with intention.

What I discovered there was not new to me, but articulated with clarity: that service is not a transaction, but an emotional exchange. An art form. A way of life. Since then, I’ve been working on translating those principles into our other spaces — from Brugarol, Habitus to The Home of the Pioneers — where we aim to embody not just good service, but soulful hospitality. Being a waiter, in my view, is one of the greatest life trainings one can have. It teaches attention, humility, flexibility, and grace. It teaches how to hold space for others.

This is the kind of hospitality I believe in: grounded, intentional, and transformative. The kind that stays with you long after the plates are cleared.