 Hi, I'm Rusty Kamori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, which many people find inspiring and motivating, and helps keep you in the right mindset in dealing with life's challenges. My special guest today is a super successful and highly respected restaurant entrepreneur whose concepts include Doraku, Blue Tree, Aoki Tepanyaki, Qingmu, and 1938 Indoshin. He is Kevin Aoki, and today we are going Beyond Restaurants. Hey Kevin, great to see you Kevin. Good to be on your show. Thanks for arranging all this. Thank you. Now Kevin, how did you, I want to ask you then the beginning, you know, your background, you know, where you grew up at. I knew you grew up in New York. How was that experience for you? Yeah, well my dad migrated to the United States with the Japanese Olympic wrestling team in the early 60s, and he defected and he opened a small restaurant called Benihana, and I was born a couple years after he opened, and lived in New York about 10 years. And then after my parents got divorced, and I moved around with my mom to Miami, then to California. So Kevin, that little restaurant Benihana, that became world famous, and I want to know, can you tell me about the Benihana story, how it all started, like with your grandfather? Sure, my grandfather was a tap dancer pre-war, and after the war in Japan, people were hiding in caves, they're, you know, they're homeless. And my grandfather wanted to create a place where his friends could all join in together and have, and meet up. So he opened a little cafe called Benihana, and around this little cafe there was little red flowers that grew along the side, and those red flowers were called Benihanas. And what, the way that he made that place successful, his mission was making friends through serving coffee. So he would ride his bicycle at four in the morning, all the way to the interstates of Tokyo, and get sugar rations, bring it back to his shop Benihana, and he would open up this little bag, and until the sugar was gone, it was free sugar with coffee. So people would come to Benihanas, because they would be able to put sweetness in their coffee, and make friends there. Well, and then your dad, yeah, then your dad took it to the next level, huh? Yeah, my dad came to the U.S., wrestled, he was a very ambitious young person. He had, he was offered to wrestle, become a wrestling coach, but then he remembered, well, he knows that his father had about 15 restaurants in Japan, called his father up. His father came down with a group of chefs, and they both created Benihanas together. At that time, back in the 60s, there was a lot of anti-Asian sentiment, because it was after the war, and no one ate Japanese food. To Americans, it was slimy raw fish, that they wouldn't even touch. So my father and his father thought, an idea, let's take American favorites, like steak, chicken, and shrimp, cook it on a grill, and, you know, put a little soy sauce on there, put a little Japanese flair, and it became successful. It was a small restaurant, four tables, and my grandfather, being a tap dancer, loved the Broadway shows and wanted to put a little flair and throw the shrimp up in the air. And my father, they had the best teamwork, because my grandfather was an expert at Back of the House training, an expert at food. And my father was really good with the media, loved marketing. He was on the Olympic wrestling team, so he was close to athletes like Muhammad Ali. So when he opened the restaurant up, he would invite Muhammad, he would invite Sammy Davis Jr., he would invite, you know, all the celebrities. And they all came and made Benihana successful. So it started out with one restaurant, then he opened up another one two blocks away from there, and then went to Chicago, then went to California, then came to Hawaii in 1971. And then now today, you know, there's over 120 Benihana restaurants around the world. Wow, that's fascinating, Kevin. And I want to know, what are some specific things that you learned from your dad, Rocky? I think, you know, as far as business, you know, surround yourself with the right people, because you may think you're smart, but putting the best brains together, creating a nice rainbow of color of a team, can grow the company. So I think I, you know, working at Benihana, the reason why I think Benihana became so successful is he assembled the right team, he assembled, and then on top of the team that he assembled, he put this process together so people can follow the process. Imagine having 120 restaurants, and each restaurant has, you know, 20 chefs working there. So each of those chefs have to follow this process. So he created this amazing process that people can follow and develop a really good product. So yeah, looking at the success of my father, those are the types of things that I've put into my own company. Oh, that's really good insights, Kevin. And what is the biggest thing you learned from your mom? My mom, compassion, love, she's the most caring and giving person, a very, very giving person. So I think, you know, my dad was just more of this hardcore business person. Didn't really care about anything but his business. And my mom, on the other hand, gave me the sensitivity, the love. She pretty much was there during, you know, through my whole, you know, opening my own business from after my dad passed away. I opened in Waikiki and she was there helping me with finances. She flew down and helped me open the restaurant, but she was there, you know, hands-on with me. And even today, she's just caring and she's always worried about how my business is doing. And she doesn't really care about the number. She really cares about my mental outlook on things. So she pretty much is my motivator on growing and keeping my drive moving forward. And Kevin, you're very close with your brother, Steve, who's a world-famous DJ. And what is it about Steve that you admire the most? Steve, you know, he's kind of like the, he brings the whole family together. He loves camaraderie. He loves bringing, like he lives in Vegas. He's my older sister living there who's a famous, who's doing really well, counseling young adults. But Steve kind of, he's the glue putting us all together. So, you know, that I admire a lot. Outside of what he's done with his career, you know, I admire that he's put all of us together and he, you know, he's really focused on the family. On his career level, that's just, that's just amazing what he's done. Because I remember him DJing for $50 a night at these garages. And he, you know, he was just so passionate about music. He used to work at our restaurant. My dad would ask me to take care of any of his kids that are younger than me at my restaurant or at his restaurant that I was managing. And Steven came to Dallas, I think three summers in a row, to learn about the restaurant business when I was a general manager there. And my dad was tough on me. So he made me clean the dishes. He made me work in the kitchen, sweep. I had to do everything from ground zero and it took me about two years to become an assistant manager. But so I, when Steve came to work for me, I gave him the same hard love. Put him in the kitchen. He was peeling onions for, you know, one month straight. I'd walk in the kitchen, see tears coming down his eyes because the onions do that to you. And then he wanted, you know, he wanted to work in the bar. I didn't let him in the bar because I wanted to show him, you know, it's not easy working in the kitchen. So he would be cleaning the dishes. And I think, I think I pushed him a little too hard. So he went off on a different career than a restaurant business, which probably was turned out pretty good for him. Well, that's, that's really, that's funny. But, you know, those things, it helps because you have to know every part of the business. And Kevin, you know, in my books, Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, you know, that I talk about welcoming adversity, you know, looking forward to challenges, having the right mindset in, you know, really welcoming adversity. I want to ask you, Howard, what are you doing right now to navigate your way through this coronavirus pandemic? I think, you know, adapting to change is really important. And since this pandemic is worldwide and everyone, it's either you adapt or you fail. So I think we've taken the approach that we're going to try to succeed. And we've been, all my restaurants, if the opportunity is there, we open up. We have turned the whole restaurant into takeout delivery. I've changed out the point of self system. So it's the cloud-based system. So it's easy to order online. And instead of touching tables, now we have to really touch the computer and make sure that all the tablets are working on online tablets. And then making the packaging is very important. So we have developed new packaging, new bags. You know, just, you know, when I think about a restaurant, I think about the journey of a customer calling up, walking through the restaurant, sitting down, getting their food. So now the journey is different. So the journey of success in the restaurant business during the Corona, during this pandemic is through online mediums, through whatever they touch, which is their takeout package, the food inside. And then really focusing on Instagram on, you know, marketing to the customers that are out there. So right now we're open. The restaurant on Capilani Doraku is open and does almost as well as it did when, you know, when the pandemic wasn't there. Now that we have another restaurant opening, the noodle shop and the 1938, we're applying those tactics here. And Kevin, you know, looking back, why is Doraku such a successful restaurant? I think, you know, when I opened Doraku 12 years ago in Waikiki, Sushi was just really just taking it off to the mainstream. And I remember at that time, the only restaurants that really succeeded were Sushi restaurants and steakhouses. So I, you know, I think Sushi has that allure that customers want today. And then for me to keep that life cycle going is really about just keeping the concept relevant and keeping the brand fresh and keeping the service and everything consistent. So, you know, most restaurant life cycles, they say it's about 10 years. Of course, the life cycle of restaurants is decreasing today, but for me to keep the Doraku successful over and over year to year, I think I had to keep it relevant, consistent, and appealing to the customers. And I can't give up. It's like the minute you give up, the minute you feel that this is where success ends, that's where you're going to start, you know, tipping on the downward trend. The success never ends. It just keeps going. You just have to keep reinventing and trying to understand the customers as they get new generations come up. But, you know, it's a lot of hard work to keep the concept relevant from year to year. And Kevin, I love Doraku and I also love your Blue Tree. And what inspired you to open up Blue Tree? Well, my brother and I have been always trying to make business together and knowing what my brother loves and what he what drives him is health and wellness. And when I go visit him, he's always worried about what he eats. He's always exercising. And so I thought, let's create a concept together that embodies that lifestyle. And I'm also getting older and juicing and drinking smoothies and aside bowls and, you know, the vegan options, all those things are great for your health. So, you know, Blue Tree, my last name is Aoki. And if you translate that to English, it's Blue Tree. Aoki is blue and ki is tree. So my brother and I decided, hey, let's open one together. We opened two here in Hawaii. We just opened one in Anaheim Hills, California. We have one in Japan. And we're planning on opening in Las Vegas sometime next year. And Kevin, tell me about your Aoki teppanyaki. Yeah, that's one of my favorite restaurants that I have. When my father passed away in 2008, I had to leave the Benihana Company to go off on my own endeavors. So when after I left the company, I always wanted to, I realized that what I've learned everything was through Benihana and through teppanyaki. So I wanted to open a restaurant and go back to the basic concept of what my dad put together back in the early 60s with Benihanas. I felt that Benihana was kind of morphing into a to a restaurant that just, you know, serves food on a steel grill. I wanted to go back and bring what my dad brought to teppanyaki, which was really to educate Americans about Japanese culture and cuisine. So I, we created Aoki. And if you walk through the restaurant, it's just, we took, it almost feels like you're walking through an alley in Japan in Kyoto, where there's small little restaurants all over the place. There's gates, Tory gates. So the atmosphere is just amazing. As if you're in Kyoto in Japan. And the food, we called Inaka style teppanyaki, which is countryside teppanyaki. Instead of just steak, chicken and shrimp, I wanted to elevate it to what you would get in the countryside. So, you know, there's chicken liver, you know, there's chicken hearts, there's asparagus, there's all different types of vegetables, pumpkin cooked on the teppanyaki grill. Our fried rice has three different grains of rice in there. It's got soba noodles in there. And everything, it just looks like a nice comforting food if you're Japanese. I wanted to bring that to the US. And I opened the first one in Miami, at South Miami, in the Dayland Mall, which is doing pretty good. Because of the pandemic, seating in front and where the chef comes out is a little challenging, but we're, we're getting by all that right now. Well, Kevin, you know, I don't know how you keep out doing yourself, but you're a brand new restaurant, 1938 Indochine. I absolutely love it. I mean, it's, it's like the inside, the outside, I mean, and then connected to Qingmu. Tell me, tell me about both of those restaurants. Well, I've since I've worked for my dad, one of the territories that he gave me starting Benihana was Southeast Asia. So I've been traveling to Southeast Asia for the past 20 years. And the past five years, I just been fascinated. And I just wanted to open a Southeast Asian restaurant. When I, and when I'm in Southeast Asia, I'm always thinking, okay, the best food is found the street. So I was thinking, okay, let's bring Southeast Asian street food to Hawaii. And, you know, the decor was really critical. So every, every piece that you see in this restaurant was collected from Thailand, from Vietnam, from Indonesia, put into containers brought here and assembled back up. So really staying with the authenticity of the food, the authenticity of the design and decor. And really trying to bring, you know, Southeast Asian street food here. It was probably one of my most challenging and exciting projects that I've done. Just because it took so long, just to build out alone took me two years to build out. And everything was just tinkering. And it was like a, like an art piece that never stopped. It was like a canvas that I just couldn't stop drawing on. Well, Kevin, you know, the details that you have in, you know, like you said, the decor in your restaurant, I mean, it's absolutely amazing how you're able to do it. Everybody, all of my friends that go there, absolutely love it. And we can't wait for it to open up again. And Kevin, I want to ask you, what is, you know, regarding business, what is the biggest challenge, the biggest adversity you had to face personally during your time in business so far? I think it changes over, you know, over time. But I think right now the biggest challenge is people finding the, finding people that are, that are motivated, that are excited, that will help you grow your brand. That seems like the most challenging part of the business right now. Yeah, the people part for sure. And, you know, again, in my books, I talk about leadership, obviously, creating a superior culture of excellence. And that's what you do. I mean, you're a great leader. You have a superior culture of excellence. How would you describe your leadership style, Kevin? Oh, wow. That's tough. I think I lead by example. Like, I will never ask someone to do something that I am not willing to do. And before I ask someone to do anything, I'm going to try it myself. And I'm going to show them that I'm doing it myself. So I think, and it's changing because this new generation of employees that are coming in, really, I think that leading by example is very critical. As I'm getting older, the more I'm actually doing the daily operation, because I need to leave by example, they need to see that I can do it, that I'm not afraid to do it. And then they will follow me when I do that. If I just tell someone to do something and not explain the reasons why, there's a good chance that when you turn your head, they're not going to be doing what you ask them to do. So I think leading by example, explaining the task, so they understand why they're doing it, it's probably, is the way that I'm kind of leading my staff right now. I like that, Kevin. I like that you said leading by example. And, you know, because you're living your brand and people can see that. And then like you just said about how important communication is, you know, why are you having them do that? So really key parts right there. And Kevin, I want to ask you, when you reflect back on your life so far, what's a valuable lesson you learned? I think surround yourself with the right people, because when you're working and you're driven and you're focused on building something, you become close to the people around you. So finding that right team is not only mentally stimulating. I think that that's what drives me, is getting the right people together, the right team. And then also trying to bring your family more involved. Um, recently my daughter, my daughter's working as a manager in my new restaurant. And it's nice to see that she's embraced some of my ideas and she's learning and she's becoming more independent individual. Kevin, part of success is taking calculated risks. Al, what are your thoughts about taking risks? For me, it's more gut instinct. I mean, like opening a restaurant on the wrong side of the street, you could fail. So you could be in the right area, but the wrong side of the street. So it's, you know, putting all the things that you learned, all the mistakes that you've had and creating, you know, that creates your instincts. And at the end of the day, you just got to trust your instincts. It's usually the first thing that my mind tells me to do. Um, and, you know, usually I just go with it. Kevin, you know, I know you told me that your dad had passed away before any of your restaurant concepts had opened. I promise you, he would be so proud of you to see what you have done, how you've taken things to these highest levels. And I just want to thank you for taking time in your schedule to be on the show today, Kevin. No, it's a great pleasure. It's a great pleasure. Thank you very much for the time. And then I'll see you soon. Okay, Kevin. Okay. Look forward to seeing you soon. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I hope that Kevin and I will inspire you to strive for your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.