HUNGRY.

“Subscribe to free weekly news letter HUNGRY FRIDAY FEAST here”  

What can restaurants learn from Steve Jobs, Uber, Taco Bell, DoubleTree, KFC, Disney, Red Bull and farmers markets? Quite a lot, if you ask Rory Sutherland. In this live Hungry. conversation, Rory breaks down the hidden psychology of hospitality: how menus change behaviour, why lowering prices can be dangerous, why customers hate uncertainty, why surprise is underrated, and how founder-led brands can scale without losing soul.

ON THE MENU:
00:00:00 Think Like A Game Theorist
00:01:51 Why Tiny Menus Build Belief
00:03:23 Reverse Benchmarking Restaurant Success
00:05:20 Steve Jobs’ Overlooked Genius
00:07:28 Why Uber Feels Like Magic
00:09:47 Price Is A Feeling
00:12:39 Menu Design Changes Everything
00:15:07 Restaurants Push Wine Without You Noticing
00:17:27 The Peak End Rule Explained
00:19:00 Why Clear Signage Makes Money
00:23:19 One Word Can Raise Prices
00:24:17 Taco Bell’s London Mistake
00:28:24 Why Customers Don’t Know
00:31:02 Managing Expectations Changes Everything
00:33:02 Is Uber Eats Really Marketing?
00:34:19 DoubleTree’s Cookie Psychology
00:36:25 Bucky’s Toilet Business Genius
00:38:54 Stop Measuring The Wrong Things
00:42:57 Disney Would Fix High Speed Rail
00:45:15 Don’t Sell To Private Equity
00:48:49 Why Big Companies Kill Ideas
00:50:20 Why Red Bull Shouldn’t Work
00:51:18 Farmers Markets Make No Economic Sense
00:52:19 Copying Creates The Opposite Opportunity
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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/)

“Subscribe to free weekly news letter HUNGRY FRIDAY FEAST here”  

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.

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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/🍲 
============================================== 
🤝 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/)

“Subscribe to free weekly news letter HUNGRY FRIDAY FEAST here”  

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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♨️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/)

============================================== 
♨️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/)