Gymkhana

Non-chef fires his chef, takes over the kitchen, wins a Michelin star in 9 months

The group behind London's Gymkhana restaurant has a reported 100,000-person waitlist. Its founder, with no culinary training, fired his struggling chef, took over the kitchen himself, and earned a Michelin star nine months later.

“The restaurant I think has a 100,000 person waitlist. Like, this is an insane number. Um, like getting a reservation there is like impossible. The, the story of the group, there basically was like one guy, he partnered with a chef and the restaurant wasn't doing so hot. And so he decides, even though he's got no culinary experience, he's not a trained chef, he fires the chef, goes into the kitchen and takes over the kitchen. It's like, we're gonna figure this out. 9 months later, they had a Michelin star, which is unbelievable.”

Rohan Oza's reposition: "Make chicken great again"

Shaan passed on investing in Gymkhana's Indian sauce line because few people cook Indian food at home. Rohan Oza, who helped build Smartwater, Vitaminwater and Poppi, reframed it: most meat-eaters' home meals are chicken, so the sauce should be sold as the thing that makes boring chicken taste great.

“And so similarly with Gymkhana, he goes, We're going to make chicken great again. He's like, what? He goes, it's not about use this when you're going to cook Indian food once in a blue moon at home. It's of people who eat meat, 85% of their meals at home are chicken.”

Steal thisReposition a niche product around the most frequent, boring occasion your customer already has instead of a rare special one.