Before Nepal Foods, before the international ambitions and before the talk of a private jet, there was a student in the UK walking from door to door in the snow. Bikash Nepal told UKMandu he made no sales for six straight days. He spent his own money getting to work, went home, and practised his pitch in front of a mirror. On the seventh day, he made his first sale.
It is the kind of beginning that gets lost when we see only the finished business. In this conversation, Bikash takes us back to the uncertain years and the decisions that helped him move forward.
Starting again in the UK
Bikash arrived in 2009, a difficult period for many Nepali students dealing with work shortages, college closures and visa uncertainty. He had worked in telephone sales in Delhi, but finding a job in Britain was another challenge. Rather than wait for a familiar role, he chose commission only door to door sales.
After that first breakthrough, he says he went on to set sales records and later earned substantial commissions with British Gas. His point is not that every newcomer should follow his path. It is that a skill can grow through practice, rejection and the willingness to try again the next morning.
What would he tell students arriving today?
When the discussion turns to international students, Bikash returns to education. He worries that pressure to earn immediately can push students away from the degree they came to complete. His advice is to plan realistically for tuition, work limits and a future career, then use the time in the UK to build useful skills.
He also urges aspiring founders to learn an industry from the inside before opening a business. Work with care, observe how it is managed and understand the daily jobs well enough to step in yourself. In his view, enthusiasm alone cannot keep a restaurant or a shop running when a key employee is absent.
The costly first chapter of Nepal Foods
While distributing established food brands, Bikash noticed a gap: Nepali products had loyal customers, but he felt they could be presented with stronger packaging and a wider range. He launched Nepal Foods in 2018 with around 20 products. In the interview, he says the range has since grown to more than 350.
The early days were far from smooth. Bikash recalls a spice shipment worth roughly £20,000–£25,000 being held at a UK port for three and a half months because required documents had not been arranged before dispatch. He estimates the loss at £19,000. Instead of treating that as the end of the venture, he learned the import process and carried on.
He talks candidly about capital and credit history too. His advice to newcomers is to understand how UK credit works and handle borrowing responsibly over time. For anyone considering a business, the wider lesson is to know the costs, paperwork and practical risks before scaling an idea.
From a kitchen frustration to Jhol Momo
One newer idea started at home. Bikash and his wife wanted the flavour of jhol momo without preparing chutney from scratch every time they cooked frozen momos. Their answer was an instant premix made with hot water. The concept grew into a more standardised way of serving momos, sauces and tea, including a Camden Town outlet.
Bikash describes ambitions to take the Jhol Momo model beyond the UK, with India, the United States and Dubai among the places discussed. They are plans, not a finished expansion, but they show how he thinks: identify a small everyday problem, make a repeatable product and see how far it can travel.
Big dreams, grounded in work
And the private jet rumour? Bikash says he does not own one. He is taking flying lessons, though, and sees aviation as a personal goal. The same mix of ambition and practical steps comes through when he speaks about Nepal Foods, his connection with the Forbes Business Council and the next stage of his work.
He also wants Nepal to benefit. Through the Nepal Foods Foundation, he describes helping farmers with useful machinery rather than one off gestures. Speaking about a factory in Jhapa, he points to delays and import duties that, in his view, make it harder to produce competitively in Nepal. He sees young people gaining skills abroad as a potential source of future investment and change back home.
The conversation finishes where it began: persistence. Six days of rejection did not tell Bikash what his future would be. He kept learning, made the next attempt and built from there. Whether you are studying, working or testing your first business idea, that is the part of his story worth carrying with you.