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.
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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
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This episode was edited by: G.Thomas Craig (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gthomascraig/)
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