We were lucky to catch up with Ray Hattori recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ray, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

My answer for the question must be yes! I always feel my life as a business owner is fulfilling even though a problem after another pops up out of nowhere every minute every second. More than a decade ago when I was a President of the U.S. operation at my previous company, they asked me to come back to Japan as regular personnel change. Then I decided to leave in order to pursue my dream. The company provided me with much more-than-average pay and a great package of benefits. When I joined them after graduation, my goal was to become the main guy in their U.S. operation. I was lucky enough to become the one after 18 years of service. I met a lot of great work associates, friends and bosses whom I still get in touch with. My parents were kind of disappointed with my decision at the time. I know I might be stupid but I couldn’t help moving to the next step. In October 2018, my new chapter began here in beautiful Laguna Hills, CA as a Japanese restaurant “Soba Izakaya MINAMI” owner. I still appreciate what the previous company had done to me but I never feel regretful to leave the regular job because I have ambitious dreams to come true.

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 worked in the previous job for 20+ years and more than half of my career comes from U.S. Starting from Boulder, Honolulu, New York, Los Angeles…As Sales & Marketing Manager and later as top management, I’d travelled all 50 states. I’m wondering how many Americans have actually conquered all 50 states like me. I kept visiting accounts to introduce our products. Since it was a Japanese alcohol beverage company, our main market was Japanese and Asian markets. So eventually I had to make sales calls to a thousand of Japanese restaurants all over the continent! In the course of my duties, I was surprised to see how much Japanese foods, especially sushi at the time, had been taking hold in the American market. For example, when I had a casual business dinner with my client at one of my Japanese restaurant account in Buffalo, NY, I saw more than 10 local customers check in. They looked like a family. As soon as several children saw the sushi chefs, they rushed into the counter and started ordering. The group reserved the hibachi table but the parents couldn’t stop their kids from ordering sushi. The parents saw their kids eating sushi and said “you guys are so brave!” The adults obviously hesitated but the kids didn’t. Through those kinds of experiences, I came to realize how much Japanese restaurants contribute to making local people know about Japanese culture. It’s where I started thinking that I want to contribute to establishing a stronger relationship between two my favorite countries as a local ambassador through authentic Japanese cuisine.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

I know everyone was suffered during the pandemic time and yes, we were one of them. In March 2020, only to-go business was permitted in the restaurant business. Before the pandemic we completely focused on dining-in business since we wanted our valued customers to enjoy as our fresh homemade soba noodle as possible. Unfortunately the situation forced us to deal with such food delivery network as DoorDash, but our sales dropped sharply more than 90% in April 2020, which couldn’t cover the monthly rent expense. It was dead silence inside the restaurant. It was my wife and me or sometimes only me operating the business, waiting for few orders every day. It was so boring that even the optimistic person like me couldn’t help thinking of the worst scenario. Luckily my wife was a super positive and optimistic lady. When we didn’t have anything to do during the business hour, she cleaned the dining area to open the space, spread out the mat and enjoyed fitness, listening to her favorite music. She always gave me laugh and brought me back to the positive side.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met a lot of restaurant owners and employees during my previous job. In early years, I tried to establish relationship simply for business objective. But as time went by, I started seeing their personal sides more. Especially after the previous company sent me U.S., I came to realize how much they restaurant people contribute to spreading the good parts of their culture in a foreign land. Luckily I got to know the respected and successful restaurant owner and his associates in New York, who are all good friends of mine until now and who also taught me all about the restaurant business. Thanks to their continuous support, even though I did not have any restaurant business experience, I could successfully start up here in beautiful Laguna Hills.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soba_izakaya_minami/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sobaizakayaminami
• Yelp: https://www.fedex.com/en-us/home.html