Jikoni

What Jikoni does

Jikoni is a London-based, founder-owned restaurant group founded in 2016 by chef patron Ravinder Bhogal and co-founder Nadeem Lalani Nanjuwany. The company operates a flagship cross-cultural restaurant at 19-21 Blandford Street in Marylebone (open Tuesday-Sunday for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch) and Café Jikoni, an all-day café and restaurant concession inside V&A East Museum at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The culinary concept, branded "No Borders Kitchen," draws on immigrant foodways across South Asia, the Far East, the Middle East, East Africa and Britain, anchored by a maternal-cooking philosophy and a wine programme in which over 90% of wines are sourced from organic and biodynamic producers.

The business monetises through multiple channels: table-service dining (reservations via the Sevenrooms platform), private dining and event catering for 8-65 guests, pop-up residencies at partner venues (Fortnum & Mason, Frieze, Barbican Kitchen/Darbar Festival), an e-commerce shop selling signed cookbooks, gift vouchers, hampers and merchandise, and the Comfort & Joy vegetarian meal box delivery/subscription service. The company runs recurring brand-building IP including the Civilised Sundays author/chef speaker series and annual charity fundraisers supporting Tommy's, Sands, Cosmic, and Imperial Health Charity. Tech infrastructure is operational rather than productised: Sevenrooms for booking, Eventbrite and Humanitix for ticketing, Galabid and Raffall for charity auctions/raffles, and Rippling for recruitment; data is stored in the UK under GDPR compliance.

The company is privately held with no disclosed external investment, no parent company, and no public listing. It employs approximately 59 staff across its London venues, with a head office registered in Harrow. Customer mix is primarily B2C (consumer dining, gift purchases, ticketed events) supplemented by enterprise catering clients (BMW, Snapchat, Selfridges, Frieze, Fortnum & Mason, V&A) and recurring cultural-sector partnerships that double as both revenue events and marketing channels.

Name

Jikoni

Legal name

Jikoni Limited

Website

https://jikonilondon.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Jikoni is a London-based, founder-owned restaurant group operating a flagship Marylebone restaurant and Café Jikoni at V&A East Museum, serving cross-cultural "no borders" cuisine inspired by immigrant foodways, alongside event catering, private dining, pop-up residencies, e-commerce and meal box subscriptions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cross-Cultural Restaurant Services

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Caterers (722320), Other Specialty Food Retailers (44529)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Ethnic & Regional Cuisine Restaurants (THAFACAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

All-Day Dining Restaurants (THAFACAJ), Local Chef/Restaurant Meal Boxes & Marketplace Prepared Meals (CRAHAJAI)

Keywords

• Cross-cultural restaurant
• Private dining events
• Event catering services
• Immigrant cuisine dining
• Vegetarian meal delivery

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Restaurant Dining: Table service dining at Marylebone restaurant and Café Jikoni at V&A East Museum. Lunch, dinner, brunch services with cross-cultural menu.
2. Event Catering: Private dining (8-65 guests) and event catering services including weddings, corporate events, press launches. Special menus for breakfast, lunch, brunch and dinner events.
3. E-commerce Shop: Sale of cookbooks (signed), gift vouchers (£25+), festives hampers (£85-195), tote bags, table linens, and merchandise.
4. Pop-up Residencies: Limited-time residencies at partner venues such as Fortnum & Mason and Barbican Kitchen with ticketed events and special menus.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Jikoni operates cross-cultural restaurants and cafés in London serving immigrant-inspired cuisine drawn from South Asia, the Far East, the Middle East, East Africa, and Britain. Core offerings include the flagship Marylebone restaurant, Café Jikoni at the V&A East Museum, private dining and event catering services, an e-commerce shop selling cookbooks, hampers and merchandise, and the Comfort & Joy vegetarian meal box delivery service.

Product overview

Jikoni is a restaurant group operating a flagship restaurant in Marylebone, London, and Café Jikoni at V&A East Museum. The company offers event catering, private dining, and operates a retail shop selling cookbooks, hampers, and homeware. The core offering is cross-cultural cuisine inspired by immigrant foodways from South Asia, the Far East, Middle East, East Africa, and Britain. Additional offerings include Comfort & Joy meal box delivery, Civilised Sundays speaker events, and gift vouchers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Café Jikoni: Café Jikoni is located at V&A East Museum, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London E20 2AR. It operates as an all-day café and restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, coffee, cakes, and dinner during museum lates.

Products and services

• Jikoni Restaurant (Marylebone) Flagship full-service restaurant at 19-21 Blandford Street, Marylebone, London, serving cross-cultural cuisine inspired by immigrant foodways from South Asia, the Far East, the Middle East, East Africa, and Britain. Open Tuesday-Sunday for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch, with reservations via Sevenrooms.
• Café Jikoni at V&A East Museum All-day café and restaurant located at V&A East Museum, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, serving breakfast, lunch, coffee, cakes, and dinner during Museum Lates. Open Monday-Sunday with extended hours on Thursday and Saturday until 10pm.
• Private Dining Exclusive and semi-exclusive private dining hire for celebrations including weddings, graduations, family gatherings, and work events, accommodating 8 to 65 guests with bespoke menus and special menus for breakfast, lunch, brunch, and dinner. Private cooking lessons with Chef Patron Ravinder Bhogal are also available.
• Event Catering Off-premise catering service for weddings, festive parties, press launches, at-home dinner parties, company meetings, canapé receptions, and vegan and vegetarian events, featuring globally inspired cross-cultural menus. Corporate clients include Frieze, Selfridges & Co, BMW, and Snapchat.
• Shop & Vouchers Online e-commerce shop selling signed cookbooks (Jikoni Cookbook and Comfort & Joy), gift vouchers from £25, festive hampers (£85-£195), tote bags, table linen including napkins and tablecloths, and event tickets, shipping within the UK.
• Comfort & Joy Meal Boxes Vegetarian and plant-based meal box delivery service offering globally inspired vegetable dishes, available hot or Heat-at-Home, in weekly subscription or individual boxes.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 60,000 annual visitors at Frieze London events
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• BenugocoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 23 October 2025Benugo operates Barbican Kitchen at the Barbican Centre. Jikoni partnered with Benugo and Darbar Festival to bring their no-borders kitchen to the Barbican for a vegetarian and vegan menu during the 20th anniversary celebration of the Indian classical music festival. The residency ran 23-26 October 2025.
• Fortnum & MasonflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 May 2025Jikoni co-founders Ravinder Bhogal and Nadeem Lalani Nanjuwany brought their cross-border cooking philosophy to Fortnum & Mason's Piccadilly flagship for a 10-day residency (9-18 May 2025). Collaborations included Scotch egg bar, High Chai afternoon tea, Civilised Sunday event, cocktail masterclass, and limited-edition gin. Ravinder co-designed Fortnum's window display with Nitin Sawhney.
• V&A East MuseumcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2024Café Jikoni operates within V&A East Museum at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The café serves breakfast, lunch, coffee, cakes and dinner during museum lates, hosting the Well Crafted Women event series.
• SevenroomscoreTechnology or IntegrationSevenrooms provides the online reservation system for Jikoni restaurant bookings. Their software handles table reservations and booking data stored in the UK.
• Nitin Sawhney CBEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-award-winning producer, composer, musician and DJ performed at the Fortnum & Mason launch party. Collaborated with Ravinder Bhogal on Fortnum's window display design telling stories of immigration and cross-cultural journeys.
• Imperial Health CharityminorOthersJikoni's 2023 annual fundraiser was hosted in collaboration with Imperial Health Charity, raising funds for St Mary's Children's Fund supporting better facilities at the Grand Union Ward serving seriously ill children across the UK.
• Tommy's, Sands, and Cosmic CharitiesminorOthersJikoni's 8th birthday fundraiser in November 2024 split proceeds evenly among Tommy's (pregnancy and baby loss), Sands (baby death support), and Cosmic (children's and neonatal intensive care at St Mary's & Queen Charlotte's Hospital).

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Ottolenghi: Established London restaurant and deli group built around Yotam Ottolenghi's Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cookbooks. Comparable on cross-cultural Middle Eastern positioning and cookbook-to-restaurant brand extension, but operates at significantly larger scale with retail delis.

Direct peers

• Berenjak: Persian/Iranian restaurant in Soho, London, from the JKS group. Comparable on cross-cultural Middle Eastern positioning, full-service London model, and bar/cocktail-led evening trade.
• Dishoom: Multi-site London restaurant group serving Bombay-inspired café cuisine with cross-cultural Indian-Parsi menu and strong retail/merchandise arm. Highly comparable on cuisine narrative (immigrant-inspired), event programming, and London full-service model.
• Brigadiers: Indian BBQ restaurant in Bloomberg Arcade, London, part of JKS Restaurants. Comparable cross-cultural South Asian full-service concept, bar-led evening trade, and corporate/private dining clientele in central London.
• Akara: West African fine dining restaurant in Soho, London. Comparable cross-cultural positioning, full-service model, and emerging chef-led narrative aimed at underserved immigrant-cuisine categories in central London.
• The Palomar: Modern Jerusalem/Levantine restaurant in Soho, London, with sister site The Barbary. Comparable cross-cultural Middle Eastern/North African positioning, full-service dining, and bar-led evening trade in the same London independent segment.
• Darjeeling Express: Covent Garden restaurant by chef Asma Khan serving home-style Bengali and regional Indian cuisine with a female-chef-led narrative. Closely comparable to Jikoni on female chef-patron brand, immigrant-cuisine positioning, and cookbook publishing.
• Kolamba: Multi-site London Sri Lankan restaurant group with cross-cultural South Asian menu and brunch offering. Comparable full-service London model, similar cuisine heritage (South Asia / immigrant foodways), and event/private dining focus.
• Gymkhana: Mayfair-based modern Indian fine dining restaurant from the JKS Restaurants group. Comparable on cross-cultural South Asian positioning, full-service London model, private dining, and a focus on storytelling through cuisine.

Emerging players

• Chishuru: West African restaurant in Brixton, London, recognised by the Michelin Guide. Comparable emerging London cross-cultural restaurant with chef-driven narrative, though operating a smaller single-site format outside central London.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jikonilondon

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Jikoni