 Rusty Kamori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou School 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, and it's about inspiration, leadership, and creating a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is a part owner and general manager of Straits Honolulu. He is Pumaikai Shishito, and today we are going beyond Singaporean cuisine. Hey, Maikai, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Hey, how's it going, Rusty? Thank you so much for having me. I'm humbled, grateful, very lucky to be here with you. Thank you so much. Maikai, Maikai, you are an incredible person. You are a man of great character, such a great leader. I'm so happy about your success with Straits Honolulu, but I know that you went to Iolani School. Can you tell me about what you really liked about your experience at Iolani? So the thing I loved about Iolani is the network that I made. My friends, the faculty, my sports teammates, everything about it was very motivational for me. Everyone is so smart, everyone worked very hard. It kind of guided me in the direction that I am today, and every day I think I'm so grateful to have gone there and it really motivated me to where I am today, for sure. And Maikai, did you play any sports at Iolani? Yeah, so I played football, basketball, and my main sport was golf. Wow. I bet you don't get on the golf course as much nowadays as you'd like to, huh? I wish I could, but things are a little busy now, but I still get out there from time to time. Now, Maikai, I wanna go right into Straits Honolulu. You're located in the Ward Theater area. Why didn't you choose that Ward location versus being in Waikiki? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm born and raised in Hawaii. Straits is from San Francisco, California, where it originated from. I wanted to be in a place that's growing. I want my restaurant to grow with the community and the people and Ward Village, there's still five or six buildings coming up. The synergy is really good here. The customers have been great so far, and the parking too. I love that about the parking, and we wanted to cater to local people. Being in Waikiki, you have a lot of tourists, but I wanted people, local people, to try my food and feel the vibe, try the drinks, have a great experience, and share it with Hawaii, yeah. Well, Maikai, I think you definitely succeeded. I've been to your restaurant five times now, and I absolutely love it. You walk in, and the lounge is beautiful. The dining area is beautiful. I mean, and that was the location, the former location of Big City Diner. Tell me about how that ambiance came to be. Yeah, so it was Big City Diner before. Pretty much we took it as an empty shell. A really big person that kind of curated and made the restaurant look like how it did is, or is, is my partner's wife, Lily. It was kind of her masterpiece of putting it together, and the way that she did the details of the tiles, and the flooring, and the wallpapers, and the colors, and the lights, it honestly surpassed all of our expectations, and we wanted it to feel just fun and lively when you go in there, and she did a great job at that. Well, I have to agree that Lily did a phenomenal job. I mean, so many of my friends, the last time we were in that space was Big City Diner, and just to see the vision and how it transformed, I mean, it's so fun, so comfortable. Everybody loves to go there, and Micah, I want to ask you, what exactly is Singaporean cuisine? So Singaporean cuisine is, it's a mix of Chinese, Malaysian, and Indian food. So you have very flavorful items, chili crab, you have spicy items as well, but the reason why I thought Singaporean food would do well in Hawaii is because it's Asian food ultimately, and we can all kind of relate to that growing up in Hawaii, and eating Asian food pretty much almost every day, but the dishes that we have, we wanted it to be a little different, be very flavorful, a little bit of spice, and yeah, that's what pretty much Singaporean food is. Well, Micah, I mean, there's some dishes that have some spice in it, but there's others that don't, and I have to say my last visit there with you, I tried the mussels, the seafood, that has to be one of the best mussels seafood dishes I've ever had, I mean, it was, that's a must-have, and like I need to have that now. Definitely, our wok fried mussels are absolutely amazing. My chef does such a good job and everyone behind the kitchen, they get there in there early in the morning, they stay late at night, and the food quality, the volume that we do is very high, but the food quality that they have is, I mean, I can't, even, they do such a great job back there, and I'm so grateful for them, yeah. So Micah, I mean, your chef is excellent. I mean, why is he so good? So Chef Reid, and there's a story behind that too. So I kind of grew up, we're about the same age, we kind of grew up together in the scene in Hawaii, and we actually got very lucky to get him. He was at the time leaving Redfish, but he didn't tell too many people about it. I kind of heard it through the grapevine, and I think the day after when I found out, I called him and I was like, hey, we're gonna be opening a new restaurant, you would be perfect for it. You're a very likable person, your food is amazing, you're a hard worker, and it was someone I trusted as well. So I think it was a week or two after that we talked. I brought him up to the California location in San Jose, and he absolutely loved it. We stayed for a weekend, he tried the food, he felt the vibe, he met the founder, and yeah, I think a week later we signed him. But after we signed him, I found out that he had all these other job offers lined up for him. So, it was kind of serendipitous. I felt like as the restaurant was coming together with the build out and everything, he was probably one of the most main components to complete the restaurant in Thailand. I completely agree. I mean, he's phenomenal. I mean, the dishes are literally amazing. I'm so excited that you guys opened up and so many people are really enjoying it. And Micah, tell me about your specialty drinks. I mean, you guys have such a great selection. Yeah, so our specialty drinks, I did get some help from one of our liquor reps, R&D C, Jen Len, amazing. But the thing that sets apart, I think our cocktail list is, all of our syrups and purees are made in-house. We get help from the chefs. They help us make these syrups, pandan syrups, house-made lemongrass syrups. We have a milk punch, so our clarified milk cocktail takes 24 hours to make. Everything about our restaurant is fun. So I wanted the cocktail list and the drinks to match that. Yeah, and I think with the cups and the presentations, and we do a lychee martini with a lychee-flavored bubble in it, we just wanted it to be fun for our guests. The whole concept of our restaurant is fun dining. Well, Micah, I have to agree. I mean, it is fun. I mean, whether you're there for a happy hour, or you're there for a regular dinner. And what I like as well, too, is kind of later in the evening in the lounge area, I mean, there's a lot of people that kind of gather there, and it's really fun. It's a fun vibe, and can you tell us more about that? Yeah, so luckily for me, Straits, this is the concept of Straits. You know, Straits was started in 1987. It's almost 40 years old. Very good friends with the founder, and now my partner, his son, Julian. But the concept, you know, I used to go to Straits in college, and I was always thinking, man, this place is rockin', this place, this is the place to be. You know, so I even told myself back then, you know, one day I would want to open up something like this in Hawaii, and this is me, 22 years old. And to see it kind of all come together, it's pretty amazing. And, you know, kind of started, it was almost like it was supposed to be here in some way. But yeah, so our nightlife scene is very fun. Come here for a date night, listen to great music. We do DJs on the weekends, and we have some of the most popular DJs in Hawaii. And it's not a nightclub, but more of a little fun lounge, and you just come if you want to have a great time. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, it's not a nightclub. It's just more of a comfortable hangout lounge place. And I mean, everyone just loves it. And Micah, I want to ask you about your other part owners, your management team. I mean, it seems like you guys get along so well together, and that's so important for the leadership of a business, right? Yeah, no, I agree 100%, and to refer back to your book, you know, the four piece, number one is people, you know? And the partners that I have, the management team that's part of Straits, Hawaii, everybody plays a different role, and everybody is so important to the operation. Yeah, I mean, everybody works so hard, and watching them work hard motivates me as well. So the people in our organization is what really made me feel comfortable to bring Straits from the mainland to Hawaii. The people and then, you know, purpose, we just wanted to have something. I wanted people of Hawaii to experience a fun place to eat and drink. And yeah, the process, it's been around for almost 40 years, so it's not like I created anything. You know, I just found a location, you know, our team was already set, and yeah, everything kind of came together that way. Well, Micai, I'm impressed right there, you're naming my four P's in the books, and I wanna ask you more about my books, Micai, you have both of them, and what are some, I mean, I'm impressed that you already said the four P's, and then performance was the fourth P, but what are some other things that stood out to you in the books? Just right in the beginning of the book, you talk about, you know, you gotta help, before you can help others, you have to help yourself. And, you know, that's something that really resonated with me because every day I have to, you know, try and make things better. My job is ultimately to make everyone else's job easier. So by helping myself, you know, I'm helping others. And another thing is, you know, I've been an athlete my entire life, and just the connections between sports, and leadership, and everything in that, it was really easy for me to relate to. Yeah, and I feel like it just kind of motivated me to, you know, be better every single day. I think the last thing too is the boss and leader section. Reading through that, I've had bosses in the past where, like you said, it's a rule by dictatorship, but I'm glad to see that I'm not on that side, I'm on the leader side. I empathize with my employees, I, you know, motivate them, and seeing that really resonated with me as well. Yeah, I'm glad you brought up those key parts in the books, and like you said about boss versus leader, I mean, it just reassures you that you're doing the right things in terms of healthy, positive leadership there to really grow your team and kind of, you know, build that culture of excellence. And you know, I talk about not just a culture of excellence, but striving for a superior culture of excellence. What are your thoughts about that? Well, I think I agree with that 100%. And, you know, I can very confidently say that my employees, they look up to me and I guess create, what I hope to do is create a culture where people wanted to come to work and they wanted to be there and they had fun and, you know, I didn't want to make it rigid and, you know, I wanted to, because I've been in their position before, you know, I was a bartender, I was a server, so I know where they're coming from and I tried to do things that I think they would like and motivate them and help them in the workplace as well. Well, I see you doing what you do there, Micai, and it's impressive. And I think you're accomplishing that. And, you know, in terms of teamwork, I mean, whether it's building a team in sports or in business, one of the keys is to make sure that everybody matters and that everybody feels valued and then that they're contributing in the way to really help that team's goals. What are your thoughts about the importance of teamwork? Well, this restaurant would not be possible without my team. We have 77 employees for this small restaurant and every single person plays such a huge role. They're the heartbeat of the company. You know, the management team, we do our best and we set them up for success. But I mean, if you look at my Instagram post, a lot of it is about gratefulness towards, you know, my employees and my friends and my family and straights restaurant would be nothing without my team over there. Without a doubt. Yeah, I mean, we can't do it alone as a leader. I mean, it takes a team and it's so much fun when you're dealing with adversities and you overcome it or you're having success and then you can share in all of that. And Micah, you and I, we've, I mean, as we're growing up, we're on teams in sports or debate teams or in business early on with, you know, some other bosses or leaders. What are some things that you feel the greatest leaders do? Make you feel important. Make you feel special, motivate you. You know, not putting you down when you do something wrong, but, you know, try to teach you and help you. You know, pretty much help you grow. My goal with this restaurant with my employees is, you know, they can use this as a stepping stone to get where they want to be, you know, whether it's a different career or financially. The skills that they learn here, I want them to be able to carry on, you know, throughout their whole entire life, you know, it's, I feel like I think I do a good job at, you know, kind of helping them and motivating them and giving them advice, you know, whenever they need it and not only with work, but personal as well. Yeah, I hope that answers that question. Yeah, no, so right there, that's one of the key things that great leaders do is they're concerned about the well-being of their team members. You know, they care about the goals of the team members and then they might care about them as an employee second. And that's why they're great leaders, right? Right, no, I agree 100%. And I know my employees, they can come to me and they can count on me for anything. And hopefully, actually I know I make them feel special each and every one of them. And I think that's kind of why they like being there. So Micai, so, you know, you're so busy, I mean, you also do real estate. I mean, you're the general managing partner of Straits and you also do real estate. How do you try to keep balance in your life? Like you said in the book, you know, we need to take care of yourself first before you can take care of all your other people. So how, what are you doing right now to maintain balance for you? So I do real estate pretty much during the day and I'm very fortunate because it's my father's company. He started this company in 1986, Quality Properties is our company. Pretty much it's a family run business. So myself, my father's the principal broker and my brother Spencer just got his broker's license as well. So for me, on that end, I have a lot of support. I can count on them, I can trust them. If I need help with anything, you know, they're always there for me. So on that end with the restaurant opening, they played a huge, I mean, they helped me out tremendously with my real estate business because, you know, I could count on them, calling them whenever I needed anything, whether it be sales, and we manage over 150 properties as well. So it's a lot of work during the day. And then once I leave that place, I come to the restaurant and, you know, do my restaurant job. But I guess the thing I can say is I found occupations that I love doing. And it honestly doesn't feel like work. I did try to do a nine to five job out of college. I did it for a year and it just wasn't for me. But throughout the years, I'm very lucky to have tried a bunch of different careers, medical sales, insurance sales, payment system sales. But I found two jobs that I love and really don't feel like working. So if there's a piece of advice for me, it's find something you love doing because it'll never feel like you're working. Oh, I'm so happy you mentioned that, Micai. I mean, I completely agree. I mean, it's a passion. I mean, you would do it anyway, even if you weren't getting paid for it. And Micai, just recently, can you tell me about the actor Jamie Foxx coming into your restaurant? Yeah, so it was a Friday night, really busy inside. Nine o'clock PM, I get a call. Hey, can you save a seat for 10 people? It was from a block number. I was like, what is going on? They were so busy right now. Actually, we did not have a table at the time. But the person was like, oh, this is Jamie Foxx's manager. Can you get the table? I said, for Jamie Foxx, we will. So luckily a table opened up. He came in with his family. Just ate, drank, had a good time. Very nice. After he was done, he took pictures with my staff and some of the customers. And yeah, soups were a very nice guy. And first celebrity in there, so we were very excited to have him. Oh, that's so great to hear that he was such a nice guy. And then he's taking pictures with your staff. That's super awesome. And I know he was here for the Sony Open as well. And Micai, tell me about your event that you had that you did with Oprah Winfrey. So that was probably the biggest, I guess, milestone in one of my restaurants so far. She was doing a speaking tour across the United States and the last location was San Jose, California. So she wanted to have like a appreciation party for her staff. And mind you, she has 300 people traveling with her on these tours. So it was at my restaurant in San Jose called SB2, communal bar and restaurant right in downtown. We have 10,000 square feet. So it was big enough to accommodate her party. But when, I don't think I've ever met a person that commanded as much respect as her. It was almost like, I don't wanna say she was bigger more than human, but whenever she spoke, all everybody in there was quiet. And it was just a sight to see. It was like, it was pretty amazing. And yeah, they just had a closing company party and everyone had a good time. And that was probably the biggest celebrity that I've met so far. Yeah. Well, Micai, that's why she's Oprah. That's why 100%, yes. So Micai, I wanna ask you, what are some of the big challenges that you deal with in the restaurant industry? So restaurants, it's such a tough business because you, so many components that go into it. You have your bar side, you have your food side, you have your HR side, you have the accounting side, you have your employees, you have to make sure the customers are happy. So much goes into it. But luckily, the team that we have is 100% reliable. Everyone does such a great job. So splitting up all these different tasks and challenges within the team, that's the only way we're able to do it. Yeah, because restaurants are such a hard business. Yeah, and there's so many moving parts to it. And I mean, it has to be, I always say it has to be like a seamless dance where once you come in, you see the host or hostess and then they take you to your table and then the server and then the busser. I mean, then there's the bartender and the manager. I mean, until you leave, it has to be a seamless experience. And I always say, Micai, that everyone's a reflection of each other. And so if one person screws up, it's like a reflection on everybody else. So what are your thoughts about that? Yeah, I mean, it is a reflection on everybody else, but if someone messes up, my managers are there to take care of it and try to try to make things better. So even going back to that, it's a team effort. Nobody's perfect. The restaurant gets so busy at night. It's chaotic and mistakes are bound to happen, but we don't blame our workers. We try to help them and tell them correctly, teach them and motivate them and tell them, it's okay, we'll take care of it for you and we can talk about it later. But yeah, just having a team to pick up after everybody is what makes it work, 100%. Yeah, no, I agree with you. I mean, when things get chaotic and hectic, I mean, super busy. I mean, it's just, we're all human, right? And Micai, I wanna ask you, I mean, in your experience, I mean, even through COVID, I mean, there's so many restaurants that closed. And even after COVID, maybe some restaurants are still recovering, but in your experience, why do you think some restaurants fail? So I guess speaking from straights, from experience, this restaurant has been around almost four years. I think really the main thing is finding a concept that works either that in the restaurant business or you have phenomenal food that people will go to or you have just something that differentiates yourself. And but I think it boils down to the concept and straights has been around for so long and that's why I felt very confident bringing it to Hawaii. I felt like people here would really like it. And I think a thing too about it is you have to change with the times. Like the restaurant, the straights in San Jose, they built this really big outdoor patio space, beautiful decoration outside of the restaurant because there was no indoor dining so people could still eat outside. And I guess changing with the times, even though this is a 40 year old restaurant, we can change and make things better every day. We're not stuck to anything. Well, Micah, I think you nailed it right there because you're somebody that can adapt and adjust to the changing times and some leaders, I mean, they're just complacent and then the time just kind of passes them by. And yet there's some other leaders that will recognize that and then they'll adapt and adjust to try to find a way to succeed like many businesses did during COVID. And Micah, your insights fantastic and you're such a young guy and you're so likable. Everybody loves Micah. And I just want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today and I really want everybody to go and support your restaurant because it's such a good thing in our community, what you're doing and for people to understand why you opened up at Ward and what you're trying to do from the outside and the inside, I think is really key. So I want to thank you, Micah. Thank you so much, Rusty. You've had some really great people on this show and when you came up to me and asked me to be on it, I was beyond grateful and humbled. And I was like, wow, I'm nothing like these people but I'm very grateful that you had me on and I had a lot of fun. Thank you so much. Well, you're definitely somebody that goes beyond the line. So you're well-deserved and thanks, Micah. Thank you, Rusty. 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 & Noble. I hope that Micah and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.