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HUNGRY.

Dan Pope

HUNGRY is THE podcast for Challenger FMCG & Hospitality Founders wanting to pour gasoline on growth.

We chat with the industry BIG HITTERS. We ooze out the HIDDEN success secrets they’ve never told before and dive deep into their gut-wrenching failures, so you avoid them. We help you grow bigger, faster, stronger. Over the last 6 years, we’ve chatted to some insane guests on the poddy: Rory Sutherland, Seth Godin, Jamie Laing, Spencer Matthews, Tom Kerridge, Sir John Hegarty, The founders of SOHO House, TRIP, The Devonshire, Tony’s Chocolonely, Vita Coco Look, I’ll be blunt, HUNGRY is NOT your normal podcast. HUNGRY is NOT scripted and sterile Q&A interviews. HUNGRY is for pretty much no one. HUNRGY is a deliciously fun, wild and crazy, ADHD rollercoaster of free flowing conversations. got what it takes? Buckle up. Strap in.

get ready to… FEED YOUR HUNGER

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  • 42 episodes
  • a few times a week
  • Avg 1 hr 3 min
  • English

Episodes 42

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  • June 1 · 1 hr 44 min

    How to Keep Your Restaurant Rammed for 10+ Years: London’s Most Iconic Sri Lankan Restaurant “Hoppers” - Karan Gokani

    I thought Karan would define success in the usual restaurant terms — reviews, covers, repeat customers. His answer went somewhere way more interesting. In this episode, I sit down with Karan Gokani to talk about how Hoppers became one of London’s most iconic restaurants — and how it has stayed busy, relevant, and loved for over a decade in an industry where that feels almost impossible. Karan shares the principles behind that success: make it personal, find your purpose, build a culture of kindness, and create something that makes people feel more than they expected. 📙Download HUNGRY Big Banging Reading list here 🧾 HUNGRY survey would be so grateful if you may please fill out ON THE MENU: 00:00 Intro 00:34 Opening Hoppers and refusing to dilute Sri Lankan food 02:12 Growing from Soho to Marylebone and King’s Cross 05:37 The biggest misconception about scaling restaurants 06:00 Culture, values, purpose and learning to codify instinct 08:15 How Covid changed hospitality teams and restaurant culture 09:01 Reading the room and spotting cultural red flags 11:58 Karan’s first business principle: make it personal 15:35 How taking feedback personally improves hospitality 20:52 Karan’s second principle: find your purpose 22:04 Saying yes to everything and discovering the common thread 23:03 Why Karan’s real purpose is inspiring people 24:43 How writing, Instagram and restaurants all connect to purpose 28:19 Asking why am I excited? 31:15 Beyond Reviews: Karan’s deeper definition of success 31:52 How Karan thinks differently from other restaurateurs 34:03 How to align a team around shared culture 35:18 Service versus hospitality 36:19 Building a culture of kindness 38:59 Karan’s definition of culture 42:04 What Karan has radically changed his mind on 45:35 Self-criticism, reinvention and never stepping in the same river twice 49:39 Growing up in Mumbai and how it shaped Karan 52:28 Why Karan came to the UK 54:45 Cambridge, curiosity and the people who shaped him 57:23 First principles thinking and mental models 58:18 Applying first principles to Hoppers 01:03:15 What problem are we really solving? 01:07:55 The marketing levers that fill restaurants 01:08:19 Why there is no perfect formula for restaurant success 01:08:42 Food as language and the restaurant as conversation 01:10:06 The soul of a restaurant and the importance of culture 01:12:29 The creative insecurities Karan still wrestles with 01:13:15 Competition, purpose and staying true to yourself 01:14:32 Food as a gateway into culture 01:15:19 Why Indian food is far more diverse than people realise 01:17:14 Why South Indian food remains underrated 01:18:28 The legacy of the British Indian curry house 01:21:46 The anthropology and nostalgia of food 01:27:48 Breaking down the dishes at the table 01:31:33 Designing the architecture and atmosphere of each Hoppers 01:35:45 Cooking as an expression of self 01:36:43 The similarities between writing and cooking 01:38:24 Why the JKS group has been so important to London restaurants 01:40:32 Building the infrastructure behind creative hospitality 01:42:27 Karan’s favourite books and inspirations 01:44:28 Closing thoughts and why there’s more to talk about ============================================== ♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here - https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/🍲 ============================================== 🤝 Let's Connect! ►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/) ►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/) This episode was edited by: G.Thomas Craig (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gthomascraig/) 📙Download HUNGRY Big Banging Reading list here 🧾 HUNGRY survey would be so grateful if you may please fill out

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Showing 41–42 of 42 episodes