From humble beginnings to a claim to fame.

He grew up in the West of Scotland in modest surroundings, his family involved with the restaurant trade. Four siblings would see him develop a strong sense of family value along with a competitive spirit, a trait that would carry through to the present day.


Pritpal Darar – My Story

Startup Focus

In 2002, In search of improving the quality of life, a better work-life balance and new challenges would see him leave the UK with his wife and two children for Spain. At that time, the Southeast coast was appealing purely from the perspective of business opportunities.  It was this perfect alinement of his timelines that would see his family followed to Spain by a BBC film crew.

This would see him star in a 3 part BBC documentary series called; Living the dream that mapped his journey opening a business in Spain. Restaurant in the Sun featured a real snapshot in the challenges involved with opening a business surrounded in red tape.

After the opening of his brand; La Diva, he went on to run a successful business model that would lead to the beginning of a second site in a more commercial area on the coast. Following his families trials and tribulations over the first series, he was famed for introducing a unique international food cuisine concept meaning that he had a degree of carte blanche with groundbreaking recipes and innovative food presentation.

He had strived to obtain a solid reputation, a high level of attention for detail and a following for his creativity. Inspired by the Mediterranean and use of natural fresh ingredients would plant the seed of thought into developing a new sauce years later.

A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.

– Thomas Keller

Naturally Sourced Ingredients

Neelam, his wife, would play a significant part in driving that idea from infancy to development.

In 2002, In search of improving the quality of life, a better work-life balance and new challenges would see him leave the UK with his wife and two children for Spain. At that time, the Southeast coast was appealing purely from the perspective of business opportunities.  It was this perfect alinement of his timelines that would see his family followed to Spain by a BBC film crew.

This would see him star in a 3 part BBC documentary series called; Living the dream which mapped his journey opening a business in Spain.  Restaurant in the Sun featured a real snapshot in the challenges involved with opening a business surrounded in red tape. After the opening of his brand; La Diva, he went on to run a successful business model that would lead to the beginning of a second site in a more commercial area on the coast.

Following his families trials and tribulations over the first series, he was famed for introducing a unique international food cuisine concept meaning that he had a degree of carte blanche with groundbreaking recipes and innovative food presentation. He had strived to obtain a solid reputation, a high level of attention for detail and a following for his creativity. 

Inspired by the Mediterranean and use of natural fresh ingredients would plant the seed of thought into developing a new sauce years later. Neelam, his wife, would play a significant part in driving that idea from infancy to development.

In recent years peoples change in habits have seen a demand for more naturally sourced ingredients; they are aware of the health benefits. Non-use of preservatives and no artificial colouring are now high on the list of priorities.

His story reads like a book, and it’s full of twists and turns that he says has prompted him to fulfil a life long ambition to create asauce. I wanted to harness his motivation and determination as to my mind it’s the stuff that mentors are made from. 

When your journey began, why did the BBC contact you?

I was researching going to Spain, and the BBC contacted me because they were doing a series of documentaries about families who were thinking about moving abroad. 

After contacting them, the team came to visit us for an interview and a few months past and during that time I went to Spain several times to source a suitable location that I thought would meet our families needs. I had to consider that moving a family would require some thought about schools, viability to open a business and a credible location that met our requirements for the long term.

There were so many businesses you could have opened, so why did you choose to be a restaurant owner? 

Following my father’s footsteps was a natural progressive move for me and in a sector that I was familiar with.  After opening two successful restaurants, we came across the idea that there was more to a home-made sauce that we were using which created a huge following in and out of a restaurant scenario.  After the children completed their education, it was just the two of us, we felt that it would make for a smoother transition back to the UK with a want and need to harness our sauce’s potential.

Tell me about this sauce?

It’s a natural product that doesn’t use preservatives, added sweeteners or sugar. It harnesses and locks in all the plant-based flavours and is Gluten-free, which is rapidly growing in demand.

Follow Pritpal’s story in the next edition of; The Networking Magazine.


Everything tastes better with Natural Sauce.