Interview by Caroline Issa
Portrait by Chris Floyd

CI Jeremy, tell me where we are.

JK We are sitting in what’s going to be named Romano’s, a restaurant I’m opening at Simpson’s in the Strand. It should have been a little more advanced than this, but the contractor going bust three weeks ago has slightly spiked us. But my life philosophy is: why get upset today about something that, one day, you’ll forget? 

CI Tell us about the history of the site.

JK When Simpson’s was formed in 1828, in an old coffee house, it became famous for chess playing. If you ask people today what the most significant element of Simpson’s was, it was the trolleys – I am asked every day of the week, “Are you bringing back the trolleys?” They used them to serve roast beef, and there was a big tradition of tipping the carver and so on. But the original reason for the trolleys was that people didn’t want to stop playing chess to have a meal, and the trolleys allowed people to eat in an informal way. The famous restaurant where the beef was served, The Grand Divan, will be called the Assembly Room. The basement is going to be Nellie’s Tavern, which is probably one of the most exciting parts of all of this. Nellie’s is named after Dame Nellie Melba, who is famous for creating Melba Toast and Peach Melba. Currently in London, it’s difficult to find anywhere to go out late which isn’t expensive or a club. Nellie’s has a 3am license and will be directly targeting theatre-goers and late-night people.

CI What makes a great restaurateur?

JK The restaurateur is going to be on the floor. There’s a simple rule – open a restaurant you’d like to go and hope enough people feel the same. Once open, however popular, it has to constantly be improved. When a restaurant has won best restaurant of the year, I’ll sit with the management and say, “How are we going to win that next year?” Someone will inevitably fall into the trap of saying, “By maintaining our standards.” I always say, “Thank you, but that’s the route to bankruptcy.” If you only aim in life to maintain standards, they will inevitably go down. 

CI How would you define generosity? 

JK Generosity leads us into the realms of altruism, doing something for somebody else with no expectation of reward or gain. If you see people as a potential source of income, you’re finished. If you see an opportunity to give them a great time, then you have a chance of achieving that. If you give people a great time, then you make money. It’s as simple as that. When we started Brasserie Zédel, it was a very affordable restaurant, even a cheap restaurant. I loved it because it was a treat for a student and a canteen for the affluent. My staff were incredulous when I said, at the end of the meal, we’re going to give people a small glass of Pineau des Charentes, a French dessert wine. It doesn’t cost that much, and it feels generous. The problem in modern hospitality is that people feel they should just do enough, and never more. 

CI How has your sense of Britishness evolved through your career – or does the idea of a fixed national identity feel increasingly irrelevant?

JK Too many people hide behind the notion of being British – they shroud themselves in a Union Jack and think that makes them patriots. Britain, like America, is largely built on immigration. When the Huguenots were expelled from France on religious grounds in the late 17th century, they came to London. The population of London rose by 10% and it was the best thing that ever happened, culturally and artistically. 

CI In the book, you describe using the proceeds of your nascent gambling career to afford dinners out. What does risk mean to you? 

JK  One of the most prolific gamblers I knew was Lucian Freud. As he got older, he gave up gambling because by then, he could afford to lose – and great gambling is when you are risking everything. I learned to gamble from a phone call I received when I was in the merchant bank in 1973. A man in the banking hall asked if I bet on horses, as a client had just withdrawn £5,000 to put on the races. That was five times my salary. I can’t remember how much I bet, but it was enough that it preoccupied me. I went with two friends to the Prince Charles Cinema, where they were showing the hottest film at the time, Last Tango in Paris (1972), and I couldn’t think of anything other than the horses. 

CI How does failure register in your world? Lukewarm reviews, no shows?

JK Failure is not being proud of what I’ve created. About 18 months after I opened Zédel, I was ambushed by my board and investors, and they said, “When are you going to realise that this vanity project of yours is a failure and that you endanger the whole company by your continued belief in this place?” I told them, “Not just yet.” A few months later, it became incredibly successful and of course, that same board tried to take all the credit. I love that old saying that while success has many parents, failure is an orphan. When my kids started looking at career choices, I told them about the dinner party test. If you’re at a dinner party, and the person sitting next to you asks what you do and the table goes quiet – can you tell them without explanation, qualification, or justification? 

CI You’ve said that you view AI as a way to find out more about humanity. What do you mean?

JK You have to make it a tool. In 2022, I was giving a masterclass to some front-of-house staff. I said, “I’ve brought you together because I’ve decided to replace you all with AI. They’re never late or hungover. They’re not surreptitiously looking at their phones. When people walk through the door, the AI will say, ‘Good evening. Do you have a reservation?’ But unlike you, the AI will know their name, where the table is and how many people are joining them. They won’t leave them at the bar and forget about them. They don’t go on holiday. They’re never sick.” Yet – a robot has no intuition, instinct or empathy. It can’t love all things that you can. People are bad robots. But if we harness the power of those robots, then you can become brilliant. In the end, you have to aspire to be brilliant. .