Humans of Hospitality

#132 Dan Austin - MD Lake District Farmers

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Episode notes

I think you are going to fall in love with Dan Austin, today’s guest, and the Lake District Farmers, for a whole heap of reasons.  Firstly the Lake District is just an utterly stunning part of the world, so anything we can do to support it, and the way of life that has been going on there for hundreds of years, I personally think is important.  Traditional farming, where animals can roam free on the fells for me is a big part of this.  Not only does it protect a way of life, and lead to happy animals a million miles away from modern intensive production techniques, but clearly it creates nicer animals for the food system too.  Lake District Farmers supply most of the best chefs and best restaurants in the country, as you are about to discover.

But more than that this is also a tale of perseverance, of business acumen, of learning and making things up as you go, of responding to business catastrophe and adapting fast to keep the business running.  Dan and his team's perseverance and commitment comes across in so many of the stories he tells.  Wether that’s being found half clothed having slept in the delivery van before meeting an important potential customer, or relocating the entire business over a weekend following a fire or simply realising that if you have a 1 in 100 chance of making something happen, you’ve just got to repeat it 100 times.  

We also touch on the ethics of meat consumption, and the carbon impact of our diets so plenty in here for everyone.

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