Background 

Dishoom serves over 11 million dishes a year across 15 cafés and 13 delivery kitchens, powered by hundreds of chefs who bring its Bombay-inspired food and culture to life. Yet in 2013, the business faced a challenge: talent was scarce locally, forcing them into costly overseas recruitment. Even then, few chefs were stepping into senior roles, and turnover remained high.

Recruiting experienced Indian cuisine chefs externally was expensive and unsustainable, with each overseas hire costing around £7,500, while turnover was 41%. Many chefs, predominantly of South Asian heritage, felt disconnected and uncertain about career opportunities, often limited by language barriers. Dishoom needed a way to grow its leaders from within while fostering belonging, engagement and long-term commitment across its kitchens.

Approach 

To tackle this, Dishoom launched the Kitchen Academy, a nine-month senior chef development programme co-created by its executive and head chefs. Grounded in Dishoom’s guiding philosophy of Seva (selfless service), the Academy develops technical, commercial and leadership capability while embedding pride and cultural connection.

The learning journey integrates five elements seamlessly into day-to-day work. Chefs build cultural and leadership confidence through ‘Buddy-to-Babu’ training, Chai Chat feedback sessions and mentoring with head chefs. They deepen food mastery through menu immersion, supplier visits and live cooking assessments, while gaining commercial understanding through Jantri (P&L) training on stock, waste and kitchen finances.

“Dishoom’s Kitchen Academy turned chefs into leaders, proving that when learning starts with purpose, culture and performance thrive”

Participants complete safety and compliance modules to UK standards and track progress through reflection journals and hands-on rotations before final assessment. Every participant receives mentoring from senior chefs and guest sessions with Dishoom’s founders, creating a clear line of sight between individual growth and organisational purpose.

Outcome

Chef turnover fell from 41% to 14% and average kitchen tenure rose to four years and four months. The programme saved more than £150,000 in international recruitment in 2024 alone. Leadership pipelines now run entirely from within, with 8 of 10 head chefs and 16 of 25 sous chefs having graduated from the Academy.

Operationally, food quality scores average 95%, waste has dropped below 0.2%, and engagement in kitchen teams is the highest across the business. Beyond the metrics the initiative has opened new pathways for talent, enabling Dishoom to hire for potential rather than pedigree and increase female representation in kitchens year on year.

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