At just 28, Leicester entrepreneur and qualified chef Samson Vas is carving out a distinctive space in the city’s hospitality scene – and creating dozens of local jobs along the way.
Vas, who grew up in Leicester after moving from Goa at the age of ten, now operates two rapidly growing businesses in the city centre: Golden Sands and Heritage Café on Carts Lane.
Between both sites, he employs almost 40 people, many of them students from Leicester’s two universities.
For Vas, job creation is not a by-product of running restaurants – it is central to his mission. “A good business should benefit the community,” he says. “Leicester gave me a home, and now I want to give something back.”
His entrepreneurial journey began in kitchens far more pressurised than the ones he leads today.
After studying food and hospitality at Leicester College, Vas credits the tutors there with setting him on the right path. He says, “Leicester College trained me as a chef and helped me find my first job in London, and I’ll always be grateful for that.”
From there, he moved to the capital, where he worked under some of the most prominent names in the industry, including Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White.
He describes those years as “relentless, demanding and the best training any young chef could wish for”.
The influence is obvious. In his own kitchens, attention to detail is non-negotiable. Plates are checked, ingredients scrutinised and, if a dish isn’t right, it’s remade. “That’s the standard I learned in London,” he says. “Good food doesn’t tolerate shortcuts.”
Golden Sands, which opened six months ago in a large 120-cover site in the city centre, is already earning a loyal following. The menu blends classic Goan dishes – such as traditional lobster curry and masala-ground seafood – with modern touches shaped by Vas’s British culinary training. Many of the masalas are stone-ground in-house using family recipes passed down through generations.
Customers, he says, often tell him that the flavours transport them straight back to Goa. “That’s the best compliment I can receive,” he says. “Authenticity matters to me.”
But the road to this point has been anything but smooth. Heritage Café, his first independent venture, was launched almost on impulse. Vas discovered the vacant unit late one night, viewed it the next morning and agreed to take it on the same day – despite having very little money and no guarantee of success. “Sometimes you have to trust your instincts,” he says. “Chefs learn to make fast decisions.”
Heritage quickly gained attention for its breakfast dishes and consistent quality, earning strong reviews and a steady customer base.
That early success gave Vas the confidence to take on a far larger project when the Golden Sands unit became available.
“It was a massive step up,” he admits. “Three times the size of Heritage, higher rent, more staff – everything was a risk. But I believed Leicester was ready for something different.”
He seems to have been right. While weekends are now fully booked, Vas is more focused on building weekday trade – a lesson passed down directly from Gordon Ramsay. “He told me, if you can fill Monday to Wednesday, that’s real success,” Vas recalls.
Despite still being in its early months, Golden Sands is already establishing itself as one of Leicester’s most distinctive new restaurants.
And as the business grows, so does its role within the community. Vas currently employs between 35 and 38 staff members, many of whom rely on flexible work alongside their studies.
He also offers work experience placements to give young people a chance to learn what life in a professional kitchen is really like.
For someone who once made his first omelette in Goa for his uncle – earning a tip of 1,000 rupees – the journey has been extraordinary. Yet Vas speaks about his achievements with calm pragmatism rather than celebration.
“I’m proud of the food and I’m proud of the team,” he says. “But what means most to me is that I’m creating jobs in the city that raised me.”
At 28, with two thriving businesses and big ambitions for the future, Samson Vas is emerging as one of Leicester’s most promising young entrepreneurs – and a reminder that the Midlands’ food scene is evolving far beyond the expected.
To book a table or view the menu, please visit the website. https://www.goldensandsdining.com/
