Why does she want to have her restaurant?
When she was 15, she walked into a coffee shop for the first time and realised that it was a place that allowed her to be her. In that coffee shop, she didn’t have to wear any mask. This was the time she decided she needed to have her place. But the following three things made her decide to open a restaurant.
The first event happened when she ran away from home during high school and worked in Tokyo. In the mega city, she felt so lonely that when she first ate with a bunch of strangers during the staff meal, she cried. She realised that she needed people. There might not be any interaction, but it feels good to have accompany.
The second realisation happened when she lived with another person. She was responsible for cooking dinner and during that time she liked carrots so much that she added them to every dish. Her roommate just accepted it without saying a word. Later on, her roommate told her that she accepted it as normal, which is the greatest respect he/she can give. Accepting everyone’s norm thus becomes another philosophy of her restaurant.
The third thing helped her discover that she can cook a meal that brings joy to everyone. When she was working at Cookpad, even though the office equipped a kitchen, everyone was so busy that no one cooked at all. So she invited anyone interested to join her curry lunch. The response was so good that there wasn’t enough room.
What ideologies does she have?
- Anyone can come. It is a place for everyone
- Open source to encourage share of knowledge
- Make food that everyone likes, not food that the restaurant thought the customer would like
How does she translate those ideologies into realities?
Identifying the pain point
Create your characteristics by refusing to accept what is commonly accepted as good
“In this community, there is no place that can cater for people of all ages. Therefore, I want to open a restaurant that welcomes everyone to come in”. This is a common solution to a common problem. But it lacks its own characteristics. Every business, every brand behind should have a core value that you want to promote or protect. Why do I want to open that restaurant?
Draw a clear detailed picture/ situation
Top-down vs Bottom-up
The creation of the Future Restaurant is a combination of the two. It first starts with why. There are clear philosophies and to put that philosophy into action, the owner designed different systems and innovations. At the same time she embraced the limitation and solve it with a workable business model.