Julius Anders has done it the hard way and the smart way.

From hotel management school to Mandarin Oriental and Corinthia, through the lifestyle world of Mondrian London, and then six years at Numa scaling a digital-first, remote-operated hotel brand from zero to 160+ properties across Europe. He built the operational structure from the ground floor, led the European operations team, and eventually took ownership of the DACH market before stepping out to found J.Anders Ventures.

Now he advises hospitality concepts, hospitality tech companies, and their service partners on unit economics, tech and AI integration, multi-site scaling, and remote operations — and he brings a point of view that is equal parts operator and builder.

In this episode, Julius and Alicia get into what it actually took to scale a VC backed hospitality company through COVID, why the 80/20 principle is beloved in startups and dreaded in hospitality, and how those two worlds collide when you are trying to grow fast without losing the service quality that made you worth growing in the first place.

They also go deep on careers. Julius's advice to anyone entering hospitality right now — whether you are 22 or 42 — is to ask why more often and take more risk than feels comfortable. Not because risk is glamorous, but because uncertainty, for those who believe in themselves, is always an opportunity before it is a threat.

And on hiring: as automation absorbs the repetitive work that used to fill a shift, the human moments that remain carry more weight than ever. The industry cannot keep recruiting for volume. The winners of the next decade will recruit for judgment, warmth, and the ability to read a situation no model can.

This is a conversation for operators, founders, career builders, and anyone who has ever wondered whether hospitality is still worth betting on.

It absolutely is.

Connect with Julius:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/julius-a-anders-6517b318/

Connect with Alicia:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciadickwahlberg/

Hospitality Folks is produced by Folksnest — the hospitality hiring platform built for the people who run hotels, not just the systems that track them.

From sleeping in a lobby chair as a night porter to managing luxury five-star hotel openings in Stockholm—Kim Spolén's hospitality journey is the masterclass in customer relationships and authentic selling.
Now Regional Director of Sales at StayNTouch, Kim joins Alicia to expose the biggest problem in hospitality tech: buzzword inflation.

We talk:
🏨 The career path that shaped his philosophy: Long-term relationships > quick closes

🏨 How hotel managers get burned by overhyped AI and "solutions"

🏨 The transition from frontline to tech ("the dark side")

🏨 Why DACH region hospitality tech is booming right now
Kim's perspective? "Find what customers actually want and need. Don't be the used car salesman of tech."
Listen in for candid stories from Strand Hotel, Sheraton, and Sergel Plaza—and why his approach to tech sales is changing the industry playbook.

For job seekers: Regional Director of Sales role (DACH) is hiring now.

Want to get in touch?
Kim Spolén
* LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kimspolen/
Alicia Dick Wahlberg (Hospitality Folks Host)* LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aliciadickwahlberg/
* Instagram: @alicia_dickwahlberg
StayNTouch* LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stayntouch — @Stayntouch
* Twitter/X: @StayNTouchInc (https://x.com/StayNTouchInc)
* Facebook: facebook.com/stayntouch
* YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCG2FdsPmZjRzPh_ofRi2lYQ
* Website: www.stayntouch.com
What do you think? Does hospitality tech really have "the cookies"?
#HospitalityTech #HospitalityLeadership #HotelManagement #CareerGrowth #StayNTouch #DACH #Nordics #HotelsOfStockholm #HospitalityFolks #PodcastForHospitality #TechVsHospitality #OperationsLeadership #EmployerBranding#HospitalityPodcast #HospitalityLeadership #HotelTech #CommunicationSkills #HospitalityJobs #StayNTouch #DACH

S1E09: From Self-Taught to Confident—How Teams Master French Pastry in Remote African Lodges

When self-taught chefs in remote safari lodges discover they can master French pastry techniques—pâte sucrée, choux, ganache, mousseline—everything changes. Confidence shifts. Retention improves. Guest experience transforms.

In this episode, Alicia talks with Charlotte Desamais, a French pastry consultant who works in some of the world's most logistically challenging kitchens: African safari camps, boutique lodges, and remote resorts where "impossible" constraints become creative opportunities.

Charlotte shares:

• Why that moment of realization—"I baked that"—drives her work

• How self-taught teams master refined techniques in weeks
• The confidence shift that changes retention and guest satisfaction
• Why remote environments create the most honest feedback loops
• How local ingredients + adaptation make excellence actually belong
  

Perfect for: Hospitality operators, hotel managers, people & culture leaders, luxury resort teams, anyone building staff development programs in challenging environments.
Listen if you care about: Hospitality excellence, staff retention, building confident teams, remote operations, luxury guest experience, African hospitality innovation.

Connect with Charlotte Desamais:
🌐 Website: https://www.frenchpastrysecrets.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frenchpastrysecrets/
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottedesamais/
📧 Email: hello@frenchpastrysecrets.com

Follow Alicia Dick Wahlberg & Hospitality Folks:
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alicia_dickwahlberg/

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciadickwahlberg/

Who is Charlotte?

Charlotte Desamais is a French pastry consultant working where pastry is not always expected: in remote safari lodges and bush kitchens. She thrives in environments that seem logistically impossible, helping hospitality teams transform constraints into creative opportunities.
From bush kitchens to off-grid camps, she supports teams in elevating their dessert and breakfast offerings by combining French pastry techniques with local flavours and the resources available on site.
For Charlotte, great baking is not about perfect equipment or shiny labs. It begins with understanding ingredients, environment, and people. Skills are the foundation, creativity and adaptation bring everything to life.
She doesn’t enter kitchens to replace teams or impose standards. Instead, she works alongside them, building trust, refining techniques, and strengthening organisation so that excellence remains long after she leaves.
Charlotte believes dessert is far more than a final course. In hospitality, it can shape the emotional memory of a stay. By investing in people and embracing real-world constraints, she helps lodges elevate their guest experience, proving that even in the bush, elegance is always possible.