24 » OpenRoad Driver
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A lot of people admire Japan for
quality, service and attention to
detail. I guess one part of that is the
concept of Omotenashi. What does
that mean to you?
SN: There is actually not a specific
definition for the term, Omotenashi. In
the dictionary it means warm service.
In Japan, when someone comes into a
restaurant, that person is everyone’s guest.
Not like in North America, where you
are assigned to serve a section and you
focus on specific tables to serve. When we
came to Vancouver, we wanted to combine
both ways. When a customer comes in,
everybody greets, and that customer is
everyone’s guest. At the same time, we
will also have servers for specific tables
after the guests are seated, and that is
how we combine the Japanese and North
American ways. That is also connected to
our philosophy of Ningenmi.
Can you talk about your philosophy
of Ningenmi? That is also very
important in your company.
SN: Ningenmi is our corporate philosophy
and it has two meanings. First, finding joy
yourself while providing joy to someone
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1 Miku’s beautiful hand-painted murals are the work
of acclaimed Japanese artist, Hideki Kimura.
2 Head Sushi Chef Shingo Fujiwara works with
unique garnishes such as the shiso flower and the
kiku flower.
3 The Aburi Prime dish is unique to Miku, including
the Fukuoka Miyabi-dai with monkfish liver, and the
Akami Maguro with seared Brome Lake foie gras.
4 Aritayaki plateware is imported from the artisanal
porcelain town of Arita in the Saga prefecture of
Japan.
5 The Lexus LC 500 coupe comes from the same
Motomachi plant in Japan that created the LFA
supercar, the product of Lexus Takumi artisan
masters.
else. When you find joy by serving guests
and discover that they are happy, that
comes back to you and makes you feel
happy. And if you are happily serving the
guest, the guest will feel happy. It’s a good
two-way connection. Second, respect and
trust. It doesn’t matter who you are, the
boss or staff. You need to respect and trust
each other. will give them the choice. The restaurant
business is a very hard industry. Normally
it is perceived as a sub kind of work where
some people have primary jobs, and they
just want to earn some extra money at the
restaurant, and then do something else.
We want people to discover that it can be
a profession with lots of opportunities to
move forward.
You talked about expansion in the
world. You now have restaurants
in Japan, Vancouver and Toronto.
Where is your next location? In society today, there are many
young people who want to start
their own business and become
entrepreneurs. What is the one
piece of advice that you would give
to young entrepreneurs to become
successful?
SN: After Japan and Canada, it will be the
U.S.
Some of your chefs have been with
you for a long time. Are there any
secrets to keeping long-time staff
members? Any strategies?
SN: The first thing is we share the vision
and what we want to do. Everybody
knows what we want to achieve. If you
don’t know where you are going, you are
confused and lose interest. Also, we don’t
force them to do anything. If they want to
be in the company and achieve something
in their lives, we will help them and we
SN: One thing is to take action because the
world is always changing. When you want
to create something, you can think and
talk about it, but without action, nothing is
going to happen. So one thing Seigo-san
is proud of is, “I do what I say and take
action.” You can make mistakes but you
can learn from that. Young people should
not just think and keep it inside. Just act on
your thoughts and change will happen.