We recently connected with Eric Tjahyadi and have shared our conversation below.
Eric, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
Our restaurant is a labor of love. The initial idea of creating our space was born out of Chef Erwin’s (my brother and business partner) desire to really stretch his creative skills and return back into cooking foods we grew up with. We were operating a taco business for a few years and were running out of steam in terms of motivation and inspiration, this business was intended to be the answer to jumpstart our passion again. And that it did.
Chef Erwin went on a month long pilgrimage back to Southeast Asia and fell back in love with the dishes and cookings in Indonesia. From there, he started drafting the stems of the menu and how we would position the business. We did not want it be just another hole in the wall business, but a restaurant that is elegant, inspired and suitable for celebrations and special moments. We knew that it had to be different from design to plating to service style. When we had the idea for Bone Kettle, it was different and daring. Not a lot of Southeast Asian cuisine businesses really popped in the LA food scene, but we knew that Pasadena would embrace the concept due to its growing foodie demographic and underserved AAPI community. Some of the main steps of securing the idea is to really map out what are some of the key must haves and really put some action steps/deadlines. After that was just full steam ahead- asking questions and hiring the right contractors/designers/talent to put the idea together.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My brother, Chef Erwin, was a fine dining chef and we started a small catering business together. From that catering business- born 2 fast casual restaurants and food truck. Bone Kettle was a next step progression into what we always wanted to do- which was a polished casual sit down serving fine Asian cuisine.
I personally came from a marketing and business background so it was critical for me to help support the operational side of the restaurant so that my brother can fully express himself creatively.
What sets us apart is our fusion approach to dishes and how much it is such a family operation.
When we hire our team members, it’s almost like we grew a family member and it’s like inviting someone into our family.
My father is involved and working daily, people love to get to know our family and our story. He is Bone Kettle as the food is signature to Bone Kettle.
I think one of the proudest things I value about our business is how much we were able to overcome as a family business. Being in a family business is not easy and I love that we were able to make it work/build something successful together.
I love that the business, albeit challenging and emotional at times, really brought us closer together and strengthen our relationship to a deeper level. I am so proud and happy that I get to spend this much time with my family and create a meaningful space for our community.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
During the global pandemic, despite all the sadness and devastation to a lot of small businesses- I really considered that time to be our creative rennaissance and a testing ground for our innovation/ingenuity.
We did so many creative programs, diversified our revenue streams and created great processes that still left an imprint to today’s service/operations. We had virtual concerts for customers, custom take home feasts, non profit menu platform for elderly community, meal packages for hospital workers, boutique wine subscription programs and more. It was such a time for experimentation and exploration.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
Our first business was born out of a garage, not a lot of money and some credit cards.
Our story is one that proves that you don’t have to start so big to get to the destination.
We started small and scrappy, everything was borrowed and we built the business brick by brick.
Our humble beginnings taught us to continue to be lean in our spend and keep things simple.
When you don’t have investors and you create something out of nothing- there’s a degree of pride and satisfaction that you can’t duplicate. Yes, it’s slow, but it’s so rewarding to see the fruits of hard labor.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bonekettle.com
- Instagram: bonekettle
- Twitter: bonekettle
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bone-kettle-pasadena?osq=Bone+Kettle
