The Chef Who Said No To Engineering And Built An Empire Instead (E157)

About this episode

Chef Saradhi Dakara discusses his journey from a small town in India to building a culinary empire.

Send us Fan Mail This episode of the Chef JKP Podcast features Saradhi Dakara, chef and co-founder of Stellar Society, for a conversation about food, identity, entrepreneurship, and what it truly takes to build something of your own from the ground up. Chef James Knight-Paccheco sits down with Saradhi to trace a journey that began in a small town in Andhra Pradesh, wound through some of Dubai's most high-profile hotel kitchens, and ultimately led to the founding of Oria and a bold new chapte...

People in this episode

Host: Chef James Knight-Paccheco

Guest: Saradhi Dakara

Topics covered

• food
• identity
• entrepreneurship
• career journey
• cooking
• restaurant industry

Keywords

• chef
• entrepreneur
• Stellar Society
• Oria
• Dubai kitchens
• food identity
• career change

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stellar Society, Oria

Places: Andhra Pradesh, Dubai

More episodes of The Chef JKP Podcast

• Why He Left Oil & Gas for Champagne | Ben Kouider · June 11, 2026 · 1h 53m
• How CUPBOP Took Korean Street Food Global | Dok Kwon & Junghun Song (E165) · June 4, 2026 · 1h 39m
• This Woman Fought 22 Years for Water | Angie Pajak (E164) · May 28, 2026 · 1h 31m
• He Became A Chef At 15 To Buy Football Shoes | Shehab Medhat (E163) · May 21, 2026 · 1h 6m
• The Hospitality Fixer Who Knows Why Guests Don’t Come Back | Samuel Graham (E162) · May 14, 2026 · 2h 15m
• The Rise of Indian Food with Himanshu Saini and Liam Collens (E161) · May 6, 2026 · 1h 51m