Dishoom hires hundreds of staff as sales pass £100m

Dishoom hired nearly 300 new staff members last year as its sales passed £100m.

The Indian restaurant group reported pre-tax profits of £7.4m in 2023, up from £4.7m the previous financial year.

Dishoom saw turnover rise 23% during the year to £116.8m, according to filings on Companies House.

The group’s average number of employees rose from 1,572 in 2022 to 1,857 in 2023 as the company expanded, while its wage bill increased from £31.8m to £40.2m.

Sales were boosted by the opening of a 235-seat Dishoom restaurant in London’s Battersea Power Station in 2023.

The group also launched its first spin-off Permit Room bar in Brighton last year. This was followed by a second site in Cambridge this summer while a third will soon launch in Oxford.

Writing in its latest accounts, Dishoom co-founders Kavi and Shamil Thakrar said Permit Room’s menu had been developed to use less red meat, which they described as the group’s biggest source of carbon emissions.

The pair said sales volumes had continued to grow in Dishoom’s restaurants, delivery business and online store during 2024 and the company “continues to evaluate potential new restaurant openings in the UK”.

Dishoom, which is inspired by the old Irani cafés of Bombay, was founded by Shamil and Kavi in London’s Covent Garden in 2010.

It has since expanded to seven restaurants under its main Dishoom brand in London and one each in Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham.