Today we’d like to introduce you to Ferry Jatikusuma.
Hi Ferry, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
We are a group of friends who have been in restaurants business over 20 years in New York mostly Japanese cuisine and several others. Our partners each own a different restaurants including Japanese cuisine.
In 2023, we decided to move to Texas and settled in Frisco and start planning to open Japanese restaurant by combining our expertise. We are fortunate to have a head chef from Japan who has more than 30 years experience. It has been a long process in a new city and different environment and market. It took us a little over a year to finally be able to bring this concept to life in August 2024.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been easy. A couple of partners decided to change their minds and pull themselves out of partnership. We have to navigate different laws and city ordinance. We did not know anybody, finding architect or builder that we can trust.
The suppliers and limited products that they carry compare to what we used to have.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have been working in restaurant industry all my life since i was 17. I worked my way up from dishwasher to managing multiple locations and owning a restaurant.
I specialize in training, creating and implementing programs. I do pretty well in fixing struggling restaurant from operational point of view starting from food cost, scheduling, service and every facet of the business.
My proudest moment was managing Just Salad based out of New York as COO as they were just starting to expand back in 2009.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Leaving my high paying job as COO at Just Salad to start my own business was a huge risk. Taking risk is something that we all need to do if we have a dream and passion for something that we love. However, it is important to know our abilities and capabilities, whether it’s financial, skills and many other qualities to have.
Perseverance, mental and physical strength, as well as having back up plans to make sure we can survive. Restaurant is one of the hardest industry and the rate of failure is pretty high.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hachiomakase.com
- Instagram: Hachi.omakase
