Building a Brand: What Dishoom's £300m Deal Teaches Future Founders

Dishoom Menu at London Restaurant Table by Viridiana Rivers. Source: Pexels.

You've built something special. Not just a business, but a place people genuinely love, a household name for some. Now someone's offering you £300 million to expand internationally. Do you take it? And if you do, how do you keep it from becoming just another chain, especially in a saturated market of Indian restaurants?

That's the question Dishoom faced this year. After fifteen years of serving bacon naan rolls and house chai in their Mumbai-style cafés, the UK restaurant group finally took outside money from L Catterton, the private equity firm backed by LVMH. The deal valued them at approximately approximately £300 million and set them up for something they had never attempted: setting up internationally.

What makes this interesting for any future founders thinking about building a brand is that they didn't sell out. They scaled up.

Why This Deal Matters

Most restaurant investment stories follow a predictable pattern. A group takes money, expands too quickly, quality drops, and the brand fades. We've seen it before.

Dishoom's approach is different. The founders and leadership team remain in place, and L Catterton isn't buying control - they're partnering.

Look at the numbers. Dishoom hit £137.1 million in revenue last year with only nine UK locations. They have healthy margins, a loyal customer base, and a brand many care about. This money was not needed to survive. They took it because they wanted to expand internationally without compromising what made them successful.

What L Catterton Brings

Money is relatively easy to find. The right partner is harder.

L Catterton specialises in scaling lifestyle brands globally. They understand American real estate markets, supply chain adaptation, and maintaining service standards across regions. For a restaurant group that's been UK-only since 2010, that expertise is valuable.

Importantly, they understand the objective: Dishoom wants to open in New York in 2026 as an authentic Mumbai café, not as "that London restaurant." That distinction matters for their global brand, to go beyond Britain and bring home Mumbai. 

Lessons for Home-Grown Brands

If you're studying business, marketing, or entrepreneurship, there are useful lessons here that apply beyond hospitality:

Investment doesn't require losing control. The right capital partner supports your vision rather than replacing it. L Catterton is helping Dishoom expand on their own terms.

Cultural authenticity is commercially valuable. Consumers increasingly pay premium prices for experiences that feel genuine and rooted in real culture. Dishoom's specific Mumbai café concept works because it's authentic, not because it appeals to everyone.

Global expansion is accessible to smaller players. Strong domestic performance plus a distinctive brand plus strategic capital can enable international growth. You don't need to be a multinational to enter new markets.

The Risks Involved

International expansion is challenging. What works in London doesn't automatically work in New York. Consumer expectations differ, supply chains become more complex, and regulations vary. There is also investor pressure for returns, which can push brands toward compromises.

The real test is whether Dishoom can maintain what attracted customers in the first place. If their New York location feels authentic to their Bombay café concept, it should succeed. If it feels diluted or overly adapted, it won't.

Growth can undermine what makes a brand special. The question is whether Dishoom can expand without that happening.

Why This Matters to You

Whether you're planning to start something, join a startup, or work in strategy or consulting, there are practical takeaways:

Branding is about why you exist and what you stand for, not just visual identity.

Capital is a tool. The quality of your investors matters as much as the money they provide.

Expansion should be intentional. International growth requires adaptation, not replication.

We're watching whether a cultural, UK-born brand can become global without losing its identity. That's the challenge for any founder building something meaningful.

In an increasingly standardized market, brands with genuine character stand out. Dishoom has that. Whether they can maintain it while scaling internationally is the real question. For students and future founders, it's worth watching how this plays out.

If they succeed, they'll demonstrate something valuable: you do not necessarily have to choose between growth and authenticity.