Why work at Dishoom?

If the past couple of years of pandemic have taught us anything, it’s that our relationships sustain and nourish us. Without strong and meaningful connections, we quickly become untethered.

This is true in every part of our lives. Most of us spend more than half our day at work, and it’s our sincere belief that the relationships you build there are fundamental to your happiness and fulfilment. 

When you work at Dishoom, we see it as our responsibility to support you, develop you and help you flourish, so that your life – in work and out of it, now and in the future – can be richer and more rewarding. We care deeply for you exactly as you are today, and we’re deeply committed to helping you realise your true potential. We want to help you be the best you can be.

This combination of big-hearted devotion and first-class development is our promise to every Dishoom-walla. It is the greatest form of service we can provide as managers and leaders, and indeed as peers and team members. 

Of course, we work hard on the basics too – healthy pay, generous benefits, a strong culture built on care and respect. The opportunity to work in award-winning restaurant, kitchen and office teams, and build rewarding relationships with some of the most big-hearted, first-class people in hospitality.

There are times when our relationships are tested. During corona, we all did everything we could to sustain one another through the crisis. GP appointments, daily phone calls, emergency loans, mental health support, sober Zoom briefings and sweaty exercise classes, endless dissection of the intricacies of furlough pay. None of it was cool or sexy or fun, the sort of stuff that wins awards or gets social media likes – just honest, big-hearted human beings grafting to get one another through and leave no-one behind. In fact, we stated an early and clear objective to keep everyone’s jobs – and despite everything the pandemic has thrown at us, we achieved this. 

Though we’ve always been focused on people rather than prizes, it was a welcome surprise when we were named 4th Best Company to work for in the whole of the UK, and #1 in hospitality. On the recent Glassdoor rankings, we placed #12 best employer in the UK and #1 in hospitality. This is a testament to the strength of our relationships, and our whole team’s devotion to supporting one another through the pandemic in the most big-hearted, first-class way. This is so very important to us.

Even though we managed to keep everyone’s jobs, our family is growing – so we're on the lookout for more brilliant and lovely people to join us: from chefs to bar to front of house. So, if you're looking for a rewarding career at a place that genuinely gives a damn about you, kindly visit our Careers site to explore our current opportunities. (And check out our Glassdoor page for more about life at Dishoom.) 

Read the café stories

Suggested Reading

See the journal

The Dishoom Battersea Story

With each new café that we open, we write a story deeply rooted in Bombay history or culture. This story, known to us as the founding myth, informs all aspects of the restaurant’s design. We spend months researching the Bombay of the period and combing the city for the right furniture, both vintage and new. In a way, you walk across our thresholds into our stories.

Christmas in our cafés has arrived

Bedecked in their annual finery of baubles, tinsel and lights, our cafés are ready to receive you for your Christmas celebration. So too are our chefs, who have assembled a most excellent array of festive fare for your table.

We humbly invite you to the soft launch of our newest café

Our soft launch will run from 27th November to 2.30pm on 5th December. And to express our gratitude for being among our first guests, all food can be enjoyed at 50% off across breakfast, lunch and dinner – yes, really.

Our cherished chai

Stop by any Bombay tapri (street stall), café, or home, and you will likely find yourself with a gently steaming glass of chai in hand. Before the invention of chai, Bombayites drank kadha, an ayurvedic remedy for coughs and colds made of boiled water and spices like cardamom, cloves and nutmeg. Eventually locals started adding tea leaves, milk, honey and sugar to their ‘kadha’. Chai was born.