HUNGRY.

What does it really take to become a sushi master? And why does one of London's most celebrated Japanese chefs believe that mastering the knife is the easy part? Dan Pope sits down with Endo Kazutoshi, the chef behind Kioku, to explore the extraordinary discipline, philosophy and creativity behind Japanese cuisine. From 17-hour working days and a brutally demanding apprenticeship to a 100-year-old sushi sauce passed down through generations, Endo reveals how tradition has shaped his approach to food, leadership and life.
They explore the Japanese philosophy of Ichigo Ichie, why Endo sees sushi as his punk rock, the importance of respecting farmers and fishermen, and his belief that a great restaurant depends on a golden triangle of guests, team and suppliers.
Along the way, they dive into samurai wisdom, Zen Buddhism, Steve Jobs, Japanese calligraphy, the dangers of social media, and what Pep Guardiola can teach us about building extraordinary teams.
A conversation about much more than sushi: curiosity, craftsmanship, creative rebellion and the pursuit of excellence.
ON THE MENU:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:18 The Brutal Reality of Japanese Sushi Apprenticeships
00:03:15 Born Into a Sushi Dynasty
00:05:18 What Sat Bains Teaches Chefs About Thinking
00:08:34 The Golden Triangle of Restaurant Success
00:12:35 The Japanese Philosophy of Ichigo Ichie
00:15:07 Why Sushi Is More Than Food
00:18:08 Japanese Spirituality, Language and Culture
00:22:00 How Life Experiences Shape Japanese Cuisine
00:26:17 The Unspoken Lessons of a Sushi Master
00:30:20 Chris Williamson's 2D vs 3D Life Lessons
00:35:00 Has Technology Made Learning Too Easy?
00:39:45 The Correct Way to Eat Sushi in Japan
00:43:57 Why Great Restaurants Need a Little Madness
00:48:30 Bruce Lee's Be Like Water Philosophy
00:50:49 Don't Look at the Tree, Look at the Forest
00:54:31 Why Endo Calls Sushi His Punk Rock
00:59:00 Japan vs London: Two Different Worlds
01:05:18 Japan's Loneliness and Work Culture
01:10:56 Samurai Wisdom and The Book of Five Rings
01:16:12 What Really Stresses a Sushi Master?
01:23:21 How Do You Come Back Stronger?
01:26:31 Are We All Living in The Matrix?
01:30:07 Steve Jobs, Calligraphy and Japanese Creativity
01:34:37 Is Sushi Really a Form of Art?
01:39:05 The Discipline Behind Extraordinary Kitchen Teams
01:44:38 Why Respect Is the Ultimate Business Weapon
01:49:19 Michel Roux, Pep Guardiola and Aggressive Leadership
01:52:04 Why Great Chefs Must Embrace Uncertainty

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♨️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/) 

Ayra is your external front of house. An artificially intelligent communications manager that lives on your website and across your social channels, chatting and responding to customers 24/7 with warmth and personality.
She's trained on your business and built to act. Taking the reservation, holding the card, sending the reminder, recovering the lost booking. Instantly and autonomously.
click the link to learn more.

📙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/)

Restaurants lose bookings because nobody can answer the phone during service. Staff get pulled off the floor to handle repetitive questions, customer emails pile up until after the shift, and enquiries that come in at the wrong moment simply get missed.
Arran Campolucci-Bordi, founder of Ayra and operator of Liverpool institution Casa Italia, is building an AI solution around exactly that problem: a restaurant-trained assistant that can communicate with customers 24/7, understand the individual business and answer questions without adding more work for the team.
Arran joins Dan to explore what AI can actually do for restaurants beyond the hype — from handling guest communication and reservations to analysing margins, labour, menus and customer behaviour. They discuss why AI becomes dramatically more useful once it understands your specific business, how operators are already using ChatGPT and Claude to solve real-world restaurant problems, and where technology should never replace hospitality.
The conversation also digs into the brutal economics facing restaurants, VAT, marketing and PR, before Arran shares the remarkable 50-year story of Casa Italia, the importance of consistency, great service and why Liverpool remains unlike anywhere else.
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:04 What Is AI Actually Good For?
00:11:07 Can AI Make Hospitality More Human?
00:14:07 Why Restaurants Shouldn’t Pay for Reservations
00:16:08 AI-Powered Personalised Restaurant Marketing
00:22:15 The Restaurant Margin Problem
00:25:35 Let AI Analyse Your Restaurant
00:29:13 Can ChatGPT Fix Your Menu?
00:34:57 Systemising the Magic of Hospitality
00:42:50 Turning Gut Instinct Into Data
00:50:05 Could AI Eventually Run Your Business?
00:57:16 Why Restaurant VAT Is “The Problem”
01:03:36 A Marketing Campaign Restaurants Can Learn From
01:05:07 Why Press Still Beats Influencers
01:10:00 Growing Up Inside Casa Italia
01:14:13 Why Casa Italia Never Changed Its Menu
01:21:18 Three Ingredients of a Great Restaurant
01:24:09 Why Service Matters More Than Food
01:27:02 What Makes Liverpool Different?
01:31:08 How Liverpool Reinvented Itself
01:37:10 Why The Beatles Changed Everything  Ayra Edit RSS 2
 ============================================== 
♨️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/) 

Ayra is your external front of house. An artificially intelligent communications manager that lives on your website and across your social channels, chatting and responding to customers 24/7 with warmth and personality.
She's trained on your business and built to act. Taking the reservation, holding the card, sending the reminder, recovering the lost booking. Instantly and autonomously.
click the link to learn more.

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

Jamie Oliver has spent decades getting Britain cooking — and occasionally pissing people off while doing it.
But what does it actually take to build, protect and evolve a personal brand that millions of people already have an opinion about?
Alison Corfield, Brand Director at Jamie Oliver Group, joins Dan to unpack the machine behind Jamie: from sugar-tax campaigns and battles with Big Food to Twitter pile-ons, brand partnerships and the fight to stay relevant to a new generation.
They get into Alison’s early days at Virgin, why entertainment beats preaching, how Jamie built extraordinary public trust, the difference between doom scrolling and genuine discovery — and what brands can learn from campaigns like Vaseline.
A cracking conversation about brand, influence, attention and what happens when your founder IS the brand.

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ON THE MENU:
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00:00 Intro
04:46 Virgin Was Doing WHAT on Flights?
07:00 Enter the Jamie Oliver Machine
13:30 Making Serious Issues Entertaining
17:55 Jamie’s Iconic Westminster Moment
23:00 Building Campaigns People Actually Notice
28:51 Why Britain Trusts Jamie Oliver
34:00 When Brand Partnerships Actually Work
38:33 “Jamie Oliver Wants to Ban Everything”
43:00 Keeping Jamie Relevant to New Generations
50:33 When Twitter Turns on Jamie
59:09 The Keith Floyd Rabbit Hole
01:08:52 Doom Scrolling vs Explore Scrolling
01:16:00 How Brands Win Attention
01:21:00 What Great Brand Campaigns Get Right
01:27:00 Building a Brand Bigger Than Content
 ============================================== 
♨️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/) 

Ayra is your external front of house. An artificially intelligent communications manager that lives on your website and across your social channels, chatting and responding to customers 24/7 with warmth and personality.
She's trained on your business and built to act. Taking the reservation, holding the card, sending the reminder, recovering the lost booking. Instantly and autonomously.
click the link to learn more.