‘There are other types of business that make money.
President Fujii said to me, “There are other types of businesses that make money, so it’s better to go there” (laughs).
(Laughs) In the first place, I went to an udon school to learn about udon noodles themselves. President Fujii said seriously, “If you are in the noodle business to make money, there are other types of business that can make money, so it would be better to be in that type of business”. I was inwardly surprised.
But as I listened to the lecture, I began to understand President Fujii’s true intentions. I remember that he said, “If you are passionate about contributing to society through your udon shop, Yamato will spare no effort to cooperate with you”, and I remember that this passion ignited my desire to run the business.
My previous job was at a financial institution and I worked outside the prefecture for a long time. I had a strong desire to make use of this experience and somehow contribute to my hometown, Awaji, as I had dealt with many people in business.
This desire and the way of thinking of the president matched exactly, and I thought, “If I do exactly as the president says, I can create the business I envisioned”.
How can you think if you’ve never done it before?
It’s more important to just do it than to think about it in your head
I often read books by successful people. What they all have in common is that it is important to “just take action”. If you take action and it doesn’t work out, you can think about it. As long as you don’t give up, the story will go on forever, so you can move forward even if there are twists and turns. I think you can grow much more than if you think about this and that and don’t start. First of all, how can you think about something if you’ve never done it before? That’s why I relied on a friend and knocked on the door of Udon School.
I had no restaurant experience myself, but they taught me everything from how to make soup stock to how to think about customers from the very beginning.
Normally, if an amateur wanted to start an udon shop, he would have to apprentice himself and train for more than 10 years. It is a world of craftsmen, and by the time you become a full-fledged professional and can set up your own business, it is normal to be in your 40s or 50s.
For me, I felt that this time was very regrettable. I felt that this time was too late to contribute to Awaji. In that respect, with Yamato-san’s noodle-making machine, I can produce delicious udon noodles tomorrow. This noodle-making machine is amazing, it tastes several times better than bad handmade udon. No, really. My shop was able to get off to such a quick start because I was able to meet this reliable partner in the form of a noodle-making machine.
The concept is to “make Awaji Island more energetic”.
Offering a unique menu while communicating the deliciousness of Awaji’s ingredients.
Our concept is simply to “make Awaji more energetic”. To achieve this, we are particular about local ingredients. Normally, meat udon is made with pork, isn’t it? Beef is too expensive. But our meat udon is made from Awaji beef. Also, onions are delicious in Awaji, so we use plenty of sautéed onions in our curry udon noodles to bring out their full sweetness. We want people to eat a lot of onions, so we are also famous for our giant kakiage (deep-fried fish cakes).
This focus on local ingredients leads to the development of unique menus that cannot be found anywhere else. Moreover, I would be very happy if many people could experience the deliciousness of Awaji’s ingredients, which in turn would lead to the revitalisation of Awaji’s agriculture, fisheries and livestock industry. After all, Awaji was severely damaged by the earthquake, and everyone has really struggled to protect Awaji. I intend to add more and more delicious Awaji ingredients to the menu, such as sea eel and squid roe. I feel that this is my mission (laughs).
A service that makes our customers feel energised and sincerely happy.
And one more thing. We also ensure that our customers are greeted in good spirits, and that they feel refreshed and energised by the time they finish their meal and leave. We call out to them, and when they leave, we send them off with a ‘see you later! when they leave. If a customer is cold, we even provide them with a blanket. At large companies, this kind of service is frowned upon because it reduces turnover, but we let them relax and enjoy their stay.
In fact, the population of the 5 km radius around the shop is only 17,000. Even with this population, more than 300 people visit the shop on weekdays, which means that there are customers who keep coming back again and again. I am convinced that if we can steadily increase the number of customers who come repeatedly by making them sincerely happy, we can do business even in such a rural area.
Second shop tries udon café
I want to spread the goodness of Awaji all over Tokyo.
We are considering a café style for our second shop. Udon izakayas are already a bit “hip”, but we are daring to try a café style instead of an izakaya. Udon restaurants stop attracting customers after 1pm. Especially in a rural area like Awaji, the number of customers just stops. So, to attract female customers, we decided to set up a café with stylish sofas so that they can enjoy coffee and sweets in a tasteful space.
If this style succeeds, I think it will generate more demand in the city. We will work out the know-how here and aim to expand into Tokyo in the future. Our aim is to make Awaji even more vibrant by spreading the Awaji concept throughout Tokyo.
This is not a pipe dream. It is a well-developed business plan. After all, I think I am in charge of Awaji’s future (laughs). But in the process of realising this plan, my company will probably go public. If that happens, I will probably build the company from scratch again and do things differently. This is because I want to pursue for the rest of my life the real thrill, other than making money, of developing people, making customers happy, and as a result being useful to society.
