Rising costs, staff shortages, the cost of living crisis and closing doors are the stories of gloom dominating headlines about the hospitality industry.
However, one restaurant group is bucking the trend and continues to grow from strength to strength. Dishoom opened its first venue in Covent Garden in 2010. Fast-forward to 2024, and the group has ten cafés and three permit rooms - their all-day bar-café offering. Plus, it’s broken through the £100 million annual sales mark.
Dishoom’s ethos is to create shared spaces that celebrate culture, bringing people together over food. Its cafés have been modelled after the old Irani cafés of Bombay, which represent a wonderful melting pot of people from different backgrounds, religions, and cultures.
The spaces are an integral part of the vision. A delivery service was not.
But, world events forced their hand, and delivery has remained part of the Dishoom experience since. You may be thinking that this tale in itself is not unique, and you’d be right. Many hospitality companies have had to adapt, but Dishoom has continued to thrive by sticking to its distinctive values and putting quality at the centre of everything it does.
The Dishoom difference

Dishoom was established by cousins Shamil and Kavi Thakrar, and despite the expansion of the business, the family feel remains. In fact, it's a core element of the brand. They’ve managed to maintain a focus on employee wellbeing despite huge growth from 40 to 900 employees.
The team is rightly proud of its commitment to its people and highlights its position in The Sunday Times top 10 best places to work, as well as being the winner of Glassdoor’s best place to work in hospitality.
The investment in the team is clear through its world-class development and training programs and other activities that have been introduced over time to ensure the teams feel valued. A few examples include:
Those who have been with the company for five years or have become Head Chef or General Manager are invited on a trip of a lifetime to India for the aptly named ‘Bombay Bootcamp’. Here, they get to experience the culture and cafés that inspired the brand.
Dishoom recognises that employees are individuals with families and responsibilities beyond work. Parents are given time to take their children to their first day of school, and new parents can learn baby first aid. In addition, mental, physical and financial health sessions are available.
Time is taken to share success with the whole team at the annual Dishoom family mela. All the restaurants are closed so everyone can enjoy the summer festival.
In an industry often associated with a casual workforce, Dishoom aims to nurture long-term careers and create a positive working environment. Not only does this create a nicer place to work, but a happy workforce is more likely to deliver an awesome experience for customers.
Quality is king
Shamil Thakrar has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a background in strategy consulting at Bain & Co. To say that he’s familiar with standard business strategy and tactics would be an understatement. As you would expect, initially, he applied the business lessons he had learnt, but the anticipated growth didn’t follow.
A switch in thinking and a new approach changed the business's fortunes and set it on a growth trajectory. Rather than obsessing over the numbers, the business focused on people, both employees and customers. Dishoom is built on providing exceptional service and epic food, trusting that the money will follow. And it has.
"I think if you think that revenue and the profit are the point, you'll get lost. They are the byproduct of doing a good job."
Shamil Thakrar
Connecting passion and purpose

Dishoom not only gives back to its team, it also gives back to communities through a number of initiatives. For each meal eaten at Dishoom, a meal is donated to a child in the UK or India who would otherwise go without. So far, this equates to a whopping 20 million meals.
The company is also committed to sustainability and has achieved B Corp status. An impact report is published on the website, providing transparency on what has been achieved and identifying opportunities for further progress.
What does the future hold?

Despite the huge success the group has already achieved, the founders recognise that there is always more that can be done and improvements to be made.
Dishoom is looking to expand into the US market and grow further, but not at the expense of its values. They are keen on investment, but only if the backers align with their quality-first philosophy and its commitment to employee development.
There’s still much more to do, of course, but for now, we're proud to have reached a few important milestones.
Dishoom hasn’t thrived on values only – delivering a wonderful experience and scrumptious food has clearly played a role. However, the conviction to follow what feels right to them, investing in quality and their people, is evident in their success.
Are you passionate about the way you conduct business? We love celebrating businesses that demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement. If you’ve got a story to share, let us know. We would love to talk with you.
Comments