Street Food Sensation
Since opening the first Mowgli restaurant in 2014, founder Nisha Katona has dedicated herself to growing the popular Indian street food chain to almost 20 locations around the UK, writes Emma Brereton
While conducting research for this article and reading about Nisha Katona’s list of achievements, I was excited to speak with her as there is no doubt she is an impressive woman, with a business that has achieved a place in The Times Fast Track 100 list within its first five years of opening. She has also been recognised with an MBE in the 2019 New Year Honours list for services to the food industry and is also Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. Wherever Nisha goes, success follows.
Her entrepreneurial spirit is infectious. Yet before she started her own business, Nisha was a domestic abuse barrister for two decades, making a difference to people’s lives when they were at their most vulnerable.
Nisha was first introduced to the possibility of a career in law while doing work experience for a delivery firm, taking parcels to a barristers’ chambers. She set her sights on a university place at Liverpool John Moores University to read law and was then accepted to join the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in London.
Fast forward to today and Nisha is most recognised as the founder of Mowgli as well as cooking slots on This Morning and as a judge on The Great British Menu and Celebrity MasterChef.
More recently, Nisha has launched Mowgli in Preston – the Indian street food favourite, which prides itself on serving the kind of food Indians eat at home, cooks everything fresh on a daily basis.
“I wanted to open up a restaurant here because I grew up close by and Preston was where I spent a lot of time. I even went to my first ever gig at the Guild Hall – there are lots of happy memories here,” explains Nisha.
Sticking to her northern roots, Nisha and her family live on The Wirral: “Liverpool is a wonderful city. It’s where I first thought of the concept of Mowgli and where we opened the first restaurant.
“While I was a barrister, I used to spend time after work teaching people how to cook Indian food, welcoming friends to see our delicious culture first hand. I would be kept awake at night with an obsession to build what Mowgli has grown into today and I knew if I didn’t at least try then I would never know if customers would enjoy the dishes I have loved for 50 years.”
It was this obsession that inspired Nisha to build her business and she did this alongside being a full-time barrister, a wife and mother. She would spend lunch times sitting in Liverpool city centre noting down what people ate for lunch and after work observing the chefs at a friend’s restaurant.
“I knew nothing about how to run a restaurant,” says Nisha. “But I was ready to learn and I did everything I could to see how a commercial kitchen worked and how it could be adapted to create the dishes I dreamed of sharing.
“I remortgaged my life to launch my business – some of my approaches may be unconventional but it is built on love, integrity and grace.”
This outlook is the premise for the working culture at Mowgli. Nisha hand picks ‘curry virgins’ for her kitchens and trains each new Mowgli chef ensuring that every employee feels purposeful, nourished and fulfilled. Even during the pandemic Nisha’s positivity stayed strong, steadying a brigade of chefs who crave routine and a desire to work.
“I am proud to say we didn’t lose a single team member and even now we have 700 positions with only four openings. I treat my staff like family and I want them to feel safe and loved at Mowgli – this approach pays dividends.”
Nisha also invests in raising money for local charities and sending her employees to the Indian villages from where her recipes originate: “We have raised just over £1.1 million for regional charities. I have also sent 60 per cent of our team on trips to India to either learn to cook new dishes to keep our menu authentic or to take part in initiatives such as building and repairing elephant sanctuaries.”
The food at Mowgli is a love letter to Nisha’s Indian heritage and the concept is a million miles away from the curry stereotype we have come to expect from British Indian cuisine. The menu conveys the truth that real Indian food is extremely healthy, often vegan and always packed with fresh flavour.
“The menu is the same in every Mowgli restaurant you visit. I haven’t tired of these dishes in five decades and I am confident our customers won’t either.”
Nisha is also a food writer for The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times and The Independent with several cookbooks published including The Mowgli Cook Book
