JP Kley, entrepreneur and founder of Mister Nice and Nikita, tells us about his unique concept and plans for expansion in the UAE
Words: Sophia Charalambous
JP Kley is holding up paint swatches on a wall which has a secret passageway that links to its sister site, private members’ club Nikita. After deciding on a colour he joins me, and admits that this is his first formal sit-down interview. From his confident and relaxed demeanour, you would never know – it must be all his years in hospitality. JP moved to London aged 20 to work in a club, which he ended up owning, before buying another and selling both venues just before Covid hit.
He had always wanted to open a restaurant and the pandemic presented the perfect opportunity to pursue his dream. Luck was on his side, and a couple of former art galleries became Nikita in 2021 followed by Mister Nice, a “luxurious” modern French restaurant, in 2023. “When you go to a restaurant, a bar, a club, you should feel like you are in a movie,” JP says. “Otherwise what’s the point? Stay at home, cook for yourself. Everything from the preparation, what you wear, the perfume you put on, the emotion you’re putting out, should feel like a movie, where you are the main character of course.” Mister Nice and Nikita will head over to the UAE next year and JP says he has his sights set on further expansion in that area of the world too.
Serving French food with a modern, international twist, Mister Nice likes to offer an innovative take on regressive foods, such as transforming a McDonald’s Big Mac into a delicacy, the wagyu Big Mac, or serving caviar pasta – creamy rigatoni with a generous helping of caviar. Meanwhile at Nikita, JP says you can unleash your inner Sasha Fierce à la Beyoncé. “You can really be who you are without being judged – and men, it’s rare for a man to say this, but we do have an alter ego,” he says. “My real name is Jean-Philippe so JP is already my alter ego.” As well as the UAE, he will be opening in Monaco next year too – JP believes that while business comes with natural ups and downs, it’s about riding the waves. “With what’s happening in the world, in London, in Mayfair, it’s not easy – so I think you have to be persistent and driven and combative,” he says. “When you love something so much then it’s just what you do, it’s second nature.
Not doing it will be the thing that makes you unhappy.” JP is someone who encourages spontaneity. He tells me of an evening a few weeks ago when a Nikita member played the club’s new piano for nearly an hour while on a first date – and the crowd loved it. “There needs to be a bit of room for life and for surprises – this place is all about that,” he says. But don’t be fooled by JP’s laissez-faire demeanour – he has a long-term goal and has his sights set on the boutique hotel market. “Maybe we buy the whole building where Mister Nice is and it will be called the Black Cat Hotel,” he says. “There will be black cats everywhere and only older people for staff so we help people in the second part of their life to have a job, then it’s even more like a movie.” The names of his businesses are certainly evocative of a film. “When you hear the name Mister Nice, you think people are going to be nice, you’re going to feel welcome, feel at home and there is a smile behind that.”
Photo Credits – Sarel Jansen
