Interview with Paul, Founder HOP Vietnamese
September, 2026
This month, to celebrate our newest partnership with HOP Vietnamese, we caught up with founder Paul to learn more about what makes this brand so damn popular.
Q. Hello, Paul and welcome to the Graen platform! Good summer? Did you manage to step away from the kitchen for a bit of downtime?
It’s been a great summer for us. We certainly don’t mind a heatwave at HOP, Vietnamese food is made for this kind of weather: fresh, vibrant and packed with flavour, so the sunshine has been very kind to us!
I’ve managed to squeeze in a bit of downtime too, with a couple of short breaks to Ireland and Spain which helped me recharge the batteries.
Q. You originally come from a Finance background. What made you decide to leave that and start a Vietnamese street-food concept in the City of London?
Honestly, I was sitting at my desk in the City feeling pretty uninspired and completely burnt out. I had hospitality in my blood from growing up working in my parents' catering business, but I’d taken that classic corporate detour into investment banking.
After six years of crunching numbers, I needed a break, so I packed a bag and went travelling across Asia to reset. A typhoon actually ended up diverting my route, landing me smack in the middle of Saigon. The warmth, and incredible food culture on those streets hit me instantly. A bit of a lightbulb moment.
I’d already experienced how uninspiring the average London desk lunch could be for City workers. Sitting over there, I realised there was a massive open goal to bring that street-food experience right back to the streets I used to work on. I spent the rest of that trip drafting the business plan, came back to London, and never looked back!
Q. HOP was originally born out of your own travels across Vietnam. Last year you went back to refine your menu. That sounds like true dedication. What made you determined to go to such lengths?
For me, it’s all about staying fearless and keeping things fresh. If you stand still in London hospitality, you get left behind. It’s as simple as that!
It had been nearly a year since I’d last been to Vietnam, and while we’d built something we were incredibly proud of, the food and drink scene over there moves at lightspeed. The younger generations in places like Hanoi and Saigon are constantly innovating, blending tradition with totally new formats and flavours.
I wanted to take our team right back to the source to immerse ourselves in that fresh energy, experience the daily eating culture firsthand, and bring back genuine inspiration. Doing that trip meant we could push our boundaries, elevate what we do, and make sure we’re delivering something truly exciting to people.
Q. Is HOP’s menu inspired by one specific region, or do you bring together flavours from all over the country?
We definitely pull inspiration from all over the country! That’s really the beauty of what we do.
When you travel from the north down to the south, the eating culture shifts massively. Up in Hanoi and the northern regions, everything is very clean, delicate, and deeply rooted in tradition. But as you move south towards Saigon, things get punchier and way more adventurous with fresh herbs and bold sauces.
Rather than boxing ourselves into one single style, we love taking the best elements from both ends of the spectrum and weaving them into our menu. It gives us the freedom to keep the menu exciting for everyone grabbing lunch in the City.
Q. We’re seeing a huge shift on Graen with companies investing more in workplace culture. Why do you think so many businesses are now offering food as a core employee benefit rather than just a nice-to-have?
It’s a massive shift, but honestly, it makes total business sense. Having spent years working in the City myself, I know firsthand that the old-school corporate perks just don’t cut it anymore.
Post-pandemic, the whole dynamic around office working has changed. Employers aren’t just trying to fill desks, they’re trying to drive collaboration and make coming into the office something people actually look forward to. Food is the ultimate catalyst for that. Nothing breaks down departmental silos or gets people talking quite like gathering around great food. It turns a standard lunch hour into a collective, social moment.
Q. It feels like the era of the sad sandwich is officially dead. Office workers today are far more well-travelled and adventurous with their tastebuds. Are you seeing that hunger for a more diverse menu reflected in how corporate teams order from HOP?
People’s expectations around office food have evolved massively over the last few years. Office workers travel more, they’re exposed to incredible global street-food cultures, and they simply refuse to settle for a bland sandwich when they’re in the office. They want food that feels like an event.
We see that reflected in corporate ordering patterns every single day. Teams aren't looking for safe options anymore, they’re intentionally seeking out fresh formats with lots of herbs, pickles, and punchy marinades that give them a proper lift. People want food that feels nourishing and light enough to keep their energy levels high for the afternoon, but still delivers an absolute knockout punch on flavour.
It’s been amazing for us because our whole ethos is built around bringing that authentic, street-market energy straight to corporate teams. The appetite for adventurous, high quality food in the workplace is huge right now, and we’re more than ready to keep feeding it!
Q. Your new menu has been live for over a year now. How has it gone down, and what’s the absolute crowd-favourite dish?"
It’s gone down an absolute storm! The response from our customers over the past year has been overwhelmingly positive.
When you revamp a menu, there’s always that slight nervous energy about how people will react, but the ambition was to give our guests way more variety across every day part, and it’s paid off massively.
As for the absolute crowd-favourite format? Hands down, it’s our signature HOP Box range! It’s the ultimate lunch.
Q. When are you planning your next trip back to Vietnam to hunt down new menu ideas?
I’m itching to get back, to be honest! Once you get a taste of being out there on the ground, scouring the street markets and backstreets of Hanoi and Saigon, you just want to keep going back for more.
Right now, our main focus is on expanding our footprint and making sure we’re delivering a great experience. But I’m hoping to carve out some time in early 2027 to get the team back out there.
There’s always a new wave of street-food trends, night market snacks, and crazy coffee innovations popping up over there, so another dedicated research trip is definitely on the roadmap to keep pushing our menu boundaries!
Q. What's the next big thing for HOP?
The last 12 months have been pretty transformational for HOP. We’ve refreshed the brand, completely revamped the menu and introduced a new restaurant design, and it’s all really come together in our two latest openings at King’s Cross and Tottenham Court Road.
They’re our new larger-format restaurants, with more space to sit in, spend time and experience the brand properly, and the response has been fantastic. Both sites are flying, which has given us a huge amount of confidence in where we take HOP next.
So the next big thing is really about building on that momentum. We think we’ve now got a format that really shows what HOP can be, and we’re gearing up to open a lot more of them.