HUNGRY. by Dan Pope

June 01, 2026 How to Keep Your Restaurant Rammed for 10+ Years: London’s Most Iconic Sri Lankan Restaurant “Hoppers” - Karan Gokani

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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.

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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