BOLD ST SITE: THE BEGINNING
You support local charity, Claire House, how did you get
involved?
We operate at the heart of the community, and we should
recognise that and give our community more than just good
food. We started the discretionary £1 on the bill and the
response has been really positive. It’s great for the staff too, it’s
good for them to know that they are contributing through their
work. They’re young, and they work hard, and one day I hope
they’ll have restaurants themselves. I want them to develop
their own careers understanding that charitable giving needs to
be one of the central pillars of business. It just seems like a no
brainer for me.
Tell us about the forthcoming Mowgli Dog Show at
Claremont Farm.
We are all about family at Mowgli, staff and diners alike and
for many of us, pets are at the heart of our homes. At Mowgli
we take our relationship with our adopted house charities very
seriously, and my teams look to finding exciting ways to support
their charity siblings. Like Mowgli herself, an idea started to nag
me - how do we celebrate the Mowgli family, staff and clients,
two legged and four and maximise what we can raise for Claire
House Children’s Hospice at a time where they dearly need help.
The hugely heart-warming answer was The Mowgli Trust Dog
Show which will donate all its profits to the remarkable work of
Claire House.
How do you relax?
I cook. I get my chopping board out and I breathe out. It is as
though this is what I was made for. We have two horses and
everything I earn is wasted on them. They mainly try to kill me.
Its a diabolical relationship.
What's next?
As CEO so much of my time is taken with the national rollout
for Mowgli. We recently opened out doors in Oxford, and our
Nottingham site launched last month. We have plans to open in
Sheffield this Autumn, as well as a second site in Manchester in
December. Leicester is hopefully on the horizon for early next
year.
I meticulously design every Mowgli inspired by the broken-
down temple behind my ancestral Varanasi home. I have such
vivid memories of these vine covered temples behind my
Grandmother’s house. Wild monkeys roam free there, so the
iconic monkey for me is a symbol of my childhood and the food
heritage that is my passion. The monkey climbing the brick
wall, the endless twines and vines and chaos. It is around these
elements that I design every site. It’s not grand or plush but its
honestly home.