Pathways: Vasanthini and Dharshini Perumal, co-founders of Karapincha
The co-founders of grab-and-go brand Karapincha look back at their first market stall offer to serving Sri Lankan food to the masses at Canary Wharf
Did you do any work experience in the industry at a young age?
Vasanthini Perumal (VP): We didn't have any work experience in the hospitality industry until later in life, but we did do some home cooking growing up with our mother.
What was your first job?
VP: I worked at KPMG as a consultant and Dharshini was an internal audit consultant at Ernst Young. We started our careers in finance when we were 20 years old.
What initially attracted you to working in food and hospitality?
Dharshini Perumal (DP): When we moved to the UK 11 years ago, we found there was a real lack of Sri Lankan food, and we couldn't find anywhere that served authentic food from our home country. There's no shortage of amazing Indian restaurants, so why not Sri Lankan too? During our lunch breaks in Canary Wharf, we visited [Japanese grab-and-go chain] Wasabi and thought the concept was fantastic. That's when we came up with the idea for a strong grab-and-go Sri Lankan concept to fill a gap in the market.
How did you make the transition into a job in food and hospitality?
DP: When we were mapping out our business strategy for our grab-and-go concept, we wanted to test the water before we fully jumped ship from our day jobs. It was important to us to make sure there was a demand for the food we wanted to sell. We did a pop-up in Shoreditch and handed out samples. It was a huge success, so we did a pop-up in the evening at one of the markets to sell our food and that was also fruitful.
VP: It was then that we knew this was the way to go. We had a great stall serving our Sri Lankan cuisine and it was thriving. That's when we made the transition from finance to hospitality.
DP: After leaving our finance jobs, we set out to find a more permanent solution to sell our food. Our colleague mentioned there was a kitchen at a Fuller's pub in Canary Wharf. We came on board to serve the food there and that was officially our first outpost.
How did you decide on your career direction?
VP: We always had a desire to portray our mum's food, which we know how to make and how to cook. We love to eat, and we wanted to offer it to others. We always make our own food at home and our guests love it, so it was a no-brainer for us to move into hospitality.
What industry networks have you been part of that have supported you in your career?
DP: Colleagues at our previous companies really supported us and helped us find our first site at the Fuller's Pub in Canary Wharf. Our friends started recommending us and we got a lot of traction through word of mouth.
Working with Fuller's gave us a lot of operational experience, and they passed down a lot of advice and know how – they are the best in the industry! They have all the systems, controls and processes and told us exactly what to do, and gave us a blueprint for how to grow. It was a fantastic partnership that was sadly cut too short due to Covid. Fuller's is the main company that really supported us and our growth within the industry and, for that, we are appreciative.
After that we traded in London markets Elephant & Castle's Mercato Metropolitano, Spitalfields Market, and Market Place Vauxhall. We opened our new bricks and mortar site in Canary Wharf station in September.
What are the biggest challenges you've faced working in hospitality?
VP: Recruitment. Finding qualified, dependable people to work with us has been hard. We know this is a widespread issue, but it's one of those hardships we are forced to face daily. When one person doesn't show up for work, it has a knock-on effect and it's a nightmare to try to cover them. Lots of people come and go.
DP: Another challenge is supply chain management. We didn't have experience with supply chain when we were getting started, so finding the right suppliers was key. We spoke to other people in the industry who helped us find different suppliers to contact and that was useful. We now have a good handle on our supply chain, so it was a good learning experience for us.
What are your career goals?
DP: We want to expand Karapincha to different locations and make it available to the masses. We want all Londoners to know our brand and recognise our food as humble, homemade and delicious.
