We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tetsuya Yamazaki a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tetsuya, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?
I first started my business just by myself with no help. As business got busier and it was more than 1 person can handle, I started hiring an Assistant to help me. After my 1st Assistant joined, my business grew rapidly. With the growth of my business, I started bringing in more staffs to be my apprentices. I interviewed applicants base on their personality, not just experiences. I like someone who is willing to grow and learn, someone eager to learn. All of my members were trained personally by me so I don’t require them to have the experiences, I just want them to be a hard worker. I wouldn’t do anything differently today. I’m very happy with the success of my business.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I grew up in Japan. My father has a woodwork company that he ran. Since childhood I was trained to help my father with our family business. I learned the trade from my father how to saw and sand, craft wood into art. When I was 28 years old, I’ve decided to leave Japan and explore America. My neighbors told me in order to survive and be successful in a new country you at least need 10 years to adapt. I’m competitive by nature, I took their advices as a challenge for myself. I stepped into Manhattan fresh when I was 28 years old from Japan. I’ve found a job in a framing shop, that was where I continued to hone my craftmanship. After 8 years, I’ve decided to start my own frames shop. That’s less than 10 years, so I’ve achieved my goals of being successful under 10 years that my neighbors in Japan said.
I was seek after by many famous artists who displayed their arts at the Moma Museum because of my reputation as an honest, talented frame artist. I always deliver my work on time and had not dissappoint the trusts of my clients.
Within the proximity of my area Prospects Heights, all my neighbors acknowledge me as a famous frame artist.
I’m proud of my honest, trustworthy, talented reputation in the art world.
Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?
I bought my business Gen for my frame works artists to have a place for luncheon. Back in the 80’s and 90’s there were no Asian restaurants, let alone be a Japanese restaurant. Majority of my staffs were Japanese, they yearned to have a place to eat their home meals during lunch time. Gen Restaurant started out as luncheon place for my staffs to cook and made what they want to eat. Over times Gen somehow evolved into a restaurant business. On May 4th, Gen will be 20 years old since the time when it was first bought as a luncheon.
Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?
I sold my frame work business to one of my apprentice. I’ve worked pretty hard to built up my business so I decided to retired so I could move away from the city, moved Upstate NY to be in harmony with nature. I was happy to pass on the business to someone I trust, who can continue my legacy.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.genbrooklyn.com
- Instagram: http://genbrooklyn.com
- Yelp: Gen
- Other: Our take out services include Grubhub, DoorDash, Upserve, and UberEats