Daniel Powell

Bar and hospitality operator with over a decade of experience running high-performing venues across award-winning gastropubs, pre-opening launches, and advisory projects.

My focus is commercial: improving GP, building KPI dashboards that actually get used, and developing supplier relationships that give a venue an edge rather than just stock on the shelf.

But the part I love most is still the drinks: building menus with a point of view, developing cocktails that tell a story rather than just filling a page, and finding the balance between creative and commercially sound. I get just as much satisfaction from training a team to execute a menu properly as I do from designing it. Currently based in London and looking for my next senior bar leadership role.

Most recently, I served as Assistant General Manager at YALM Ltd, where I supported the venue through pre-opening, launch, and stabilisation, working across operations, team building, and commercial performance during one of the highest-pressure phases of a venue’s life. Before that, I spent seven years as Bar Manager at The Gunton Arms, where I ran the bar programme end to end: developing hyperlocal sourcing relationships within a 15-mile radius, managing supplier partnerships with Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Moët Hennessy, and CCEP, and helping the venue win back-to-back industry awards. Menu development was always central to that work, building cocktail lists rooted in seasonality and local produce, and training the team to understand not just how to make a drink but why it was on the menu in the first place.

Alongside this, I’ve taken on advisory work at The Suffield Arms, bringing an outside perspective to bar operations and programme development. Across these roles, my focus has consistently been on the operational and commercial side of hospitality alongside the creative: GP improvement, supplier negotiation, KPI tracking, and building programmes that hold up under real trading conditions. But building and mentoring teams is where I get the most energy.

There’s nothing better than watching a bartender go from following a recipe to genuinely understanding flavour and technique.

I hold a WSET Level 3 Award in Wines and Spirits with Distinction, alongside a Personal Licence and a Mixology Certification. These sit alongside over a decade of on-the-job operational training across gastropub, pre-opening, and advisory settings, which has shaped my approach to spirits knowledge, guest service, and commercial bar management as much as any formal course has. My cocktail development work has always been an extension of that training: constantly testing, refining, and pushing myself to understand ingredients and technique on a deeper level, then passing that knowledge on to the people I work with.