HUNGRY.

 Rory Sutherland breaks down the weird, wonderful psychology behind restaurants and hospitality — why where you make money and what people pay for are often different things, why lowering prices can be dangerous, why surprise creates loyalty, why customers hate uncertainty, and why founder-led brands often outperform finance-led giants.

📙Download HUNGRY Big Banging Reading list here 
🧾 HUNGRY survey would be so grateful if you may please fill out   

ON THE MENU:

 00:00:00 Restaurants Are the Galapagos of Marketing
 00:01:05 What Customers Really Pay For
 00:03:06 The Restaurant Real Estate Play
 00:05:25 Why Tiny Menus Build Belief
 00:06:58 Reverse Benchmarking Restaurant Success
 00:08:53 Surprise Is The Secret Weapon
 00:09:14 Steve Jobs’ Overlooked Genius
 00:11:03 Why Uber Feels Like Magic
 00:13:21 Price Is A Feeling
 00:16:14 Menu Design Changes Everything
 00:18:41 Restaurants Push Wine Without You Noticing
 00:21:02 The Peak End Rule Explained
 00:22:34 Why Clear Signage Makes Money
 00:26:32 One Word Can Raise Prices
 00:27:51 Taco Bell’s London Mistake
 00:31:42 Why Customers Don’t Know
 00:34:36 Managing Expectations Changes Everything
 00:36:37 Is Uber Eats Really Marketing?
 00:37:00 Audience Q: Quick Service Hospitality
 00:39:59 Bucky’s Toilet Business Genius
 00:42:00 Audience Q: Measuring What Matters
 00:46:31 Disney Would Fix High Speed Rail
 00:47:57 Audience Q: Scaling Founder Feeling
 00:48:50 Don’t Sell To Private Equity
 00:52:23 Why Big Companies Kill Ideas
 00:53:36 Why Red Bull Shouldn’t Work
 00:54:52 Farmers Markets Make No Economic Sense
 00:55:53 Copying Creates The Opposite Opportunity 

 ============================================== 

♨️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/🍲 

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🤝 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    

In this stripped-back reissue, Dan Pope sits down with the fitness author, entrepreneur and attention obsessive to unpack how James went from selling workouts online to building brands, books, audiences and Neutonic with Chris Williamson.

This is a conversation about honest marketing, confidence, creative chaos, personal brand, creator businesses, Prime, Liquid Death, YouTube, doomscrolling, British ambition, American optimism, and why getting attention is now one of the most valuable skills in business.

James explains why better products don’t always win, why most founders misunderstand social media, why confidence comes after action, and why “all wins feel the same.”

Part fitness philosophy, part business masterclass, part brutal reality check for anyone trying to build something people actually care about.

 📙Download HUNGRY Big Banging Reading list here 
🧾 HUNGRY survey would be so grateful if you may please fill out    

♨️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    

📙Download HUNGRY Big Banging Reading list here 
🧾 HUNGRY survey would be so grateful if you may please fill out 

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    

 ============================================== 

♨️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/) 

Jeremy King doesn’t just talk about restaurants — he talks about change, class, creativity, ego, instinct, death, literature, leadership, and why the best dining rooms become tiny theatres of human behaviour. In this conversation, the legendary restaurateur behind The Ivy, Le Caprice, The Wolseley, Arlington and now Simpson's in the Strand explains why “maintaining standards” is actually the road to bankruptcy, why great restaurants must constantly evolve, and why hospitality is really about love, generosity, observation and care.

Jeremy and Dan explore everything from Mick Jagger and Bianca Jagger at Le Caprice, to Lucian Freud, A.A. Gill, Harold Pinter, Graham Norton, Apple, Kodak, IBM, The Beatles, New York brasseries, Parisian cafés, class in Britain, and why every great creative or political movement may have started in a restaurant.  This one is unforgettable. A conversation about restaurants, yes — but really about how to live, lead, notice, change, and leave the world slightly better than you found it.

 📙Download HUNGRY Big Banging Reading list here 
🧾 HUNGRY survey would be so grateful if you may please fill out   

ON THE MENU:
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:03 Why Restaurants Must Always Change
00:05:46 Why Leadership Is A Benign Dictatorship
00:07:24 Maintaining Standards Leads To Bankruptcy
00:13:47 Why Restaurants Get Defensive
00:17:35 Why Enough Is Never Enough
00:20:06 Why Altruism Still Matters
00:22:13 When Jeremy Refuses A Booking
00:26:06 The Silent Couple At Mirabelle
00:32:08 Arlington, Soho And Restaurant Design
00:35:55 Why Great Restaurants Are Egalitarian
00:41:18 Why Money Ruins Taste
00:43:49 What Makes The Best Restaurant?
00:47:43 Why Restaurants Need Creative People
00:49:43 How Le Caprice Changed Service
00:55:19 Why Culture Hates Real Change
00:59:49 Why Strong Opinions Win
01:03:00 How To Prepare For Death
01:05:14 Why Jeremy Has Regrets Every Day
01:06:16 The Power Of Happy Problems
01:08:30 Why Jeremy Finally Wrote A Book
01:15:12 Why Restaurant Work Changes Young People
01:18:31 How Shyness Became Jeremy’s Advantage
01:20:17 Can Dogs Sense Us Coming Home?
01:24:11 Why We’ve Lost Our Instinct
01:27:14 The Brain’s Restaurant Memory Card
01:33:09 Why Moneyball Thinking Kills Instinct
01:35:12 How Jeremy Feels A Restaurant’s Hum
01:38:07 Why First Impressions Mislead Us
01:41:18 Do All Movements Start In Restaurants?
01:44:10 Why Creativity Needs Long Lunches
01:48:48 Jeremy’s Favourite Books And Writers
01:55:31 How Meditation Helped With Lucian Freud
01:58:21 How Literature Taught Jeremy Restaurants
02:00:01 Jeremy King’s Best Life Advice
02:03:29 Ruthie Rogers’ Eye Contact Lesson
02:05:33 Why Questions Beat Statements
02:07:33 How Mick Jagger Helped Le Caprice
02:11:43 Why Jeremy Prefers Narrowcasting
02:13:01 Jeremy King’s Rules For Success

============================================== 

♨️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    

 ============================================== 

♨️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/) 

"Hospitality happens for people, not to them." In this masterclass of an episode, Unreasonable Hospitality author Will Guidara sits down with Dan Pope on the Hungry podcast to unpack the magic behind Eleven Madison Park's meteoric rise to the best restaurant in the world. From leaving a full bottle of cognac with the bill, to systemizing serendipity with Tiffany & Co. engagement flutes, Will explains why true excellence requires a healthy dose of unreasonableness. They dive into the tension between perfection and human connection, the power of a 'Red Team' in creative brainstorming, and how to apply Michelin-star hospitality to any industry—even a UPS store.

ON THE MENU:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:01 Excellence vs. Hospitality
00:03:49 The Fueling Power of Praise & Criticism
00:13:20 Redefining Hospitality in Any Industry
00:18:18 Creativity: Inviting People Into Your Imagination
00:22:11 The UPS Store & Chewy: Systemizing Magic
00:35:45 The Cognac Check Drop at Eleven Madison Park
00:44:10 Scheduling Creativity & Collaboration
00:49:07 Moving to Nashville & Embracing Messiness
00:58:27 Reading the Room: One Size Fits One
01:06:48 Systemized Magic: The Tiffany Engagement Flutes
01:08:32 The Miles Davis Approach to Restaurants
01:18:13 The NoMad Chicken & The Red Team
01:28:59 Customer Recovery as Your Best Marketing
01:32:36 Seth Godin's Girl Scout Cookie Advice
01:35:35 Danny Meyer & The Power of Language
01:46:34 Do Not Ruin a Story With the Facts
01:53:08 The Art of Gathering & Designing Events
02:00:11 Savannah Bananas: Changing the Rules
02:11:03 The Peak-End Rule & Letting Go of Control
02:22:35 Confidence, Ego, & Meeting Your Heroes
02:30:49 AI in Hospitality: Copilot, Not Autopilot

 ============================================== 

♨️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    

📙Download HUNGRY Big Banging Reading list here 
🧾 HUNGRY survey would be so grateful if you may please fill out 

A rare behind-the-scenes roundtable with four of the UK’s most exciting challenger brand founders — Toby Hopkinson of All Things Butter, Jack Scott of DASH Water, Imme Ermgassen of Botivo, and Florence Cherruault of The Pickle House — filmed live at Strakers.

Dan digs into the messy, brilliant reality of building modern food and drink brands: when to stay focused, when to diversify, how to win retail listings, why hospitality can build cultural credibility, and what happens when your “side idea” suddenly becomes 70% of the business.

From cottage cheese and pickle juice to Victoria Beckham, Ottolenghi, Coco de Mer, Waitrose, United Airlines, New York launches, supermarket mistakes, brand copycats, and the power of packaging — this is a sharp, funny, honest conversation about growth, taste, culture, and the brutal lessons founders only learn by getting things wrong.

ON THE MENU:
• Cottage cheese becoming 70% of All Things Butter
• DASH’s failed mixer launch
• Pickle House’s move from cocktails to wellness
• Pickle juice for muscle cramps
• Botivo’s collaborations with Ottolenghi and Coco de Mer
• Fashion, food, drink, and culture-led brand building
• Victoria Beckham drinking DASH
• Using restaurants to build product credibility
• Hospitality vs grocery retail
• Launching into Waitrose
• Why premium venues create brand halo
• Taste as the real reason people repurchase
• Product iteration vs marketing spend
• “Cost of goods is marketing”
• Polarising products and passionate fans
• One-star reviews and super-tasters
• Hiring senior leaders
• Difficult conversations with retailers and manufacturers
• When manufacturers copy your product
• Why brand is a moat
• Packaging, texture, and supermarket shelf appeal
• Creating ritual in non-alcoholic drinks
• Functional drinks, CBD, THC, caffeine, and nootropics
• Saying no to shiny opportunities
• International expansion mistakes
• Launching in the US
• Tariffs, middlemen, and legal risk in America
• United Airlines as a major Pickle House opportunity
• Scaling back international markets
• Why some brands travel better than others

 ============================================== 

♨️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/)