Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Tran.
Hi Jennifer, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in the restaurant business with my family and started working in the business a little bit before I was 12 years old. I have always been involved with helping my parents from marketing, cooking/new recipes, to management. Finally, after about 36 years of operation, my parents decided to retire. My sister returned home and helped take over the business. My sister wanted to run the business today; however, I had other plans. I had plans to retire alongside my parents.
It was finally time to enjoy my family, my three kids, and hopefully travel. My plans did not happen lol. My husband was browsing online for possible investment and came across a restaurant for sale in Kaysville, that’s how we found Nikko. Because of my passion for food and cooking; my husband suggested that we branch out and run a restaurant of our own. I love Japanese food, especially sushi. So we took the risk and took the steps to make a dream come true.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The first year was full of changes and adapting, plus it was towards the end of COVID. Businesses were opening back up slowly. We were operating with half the capacity of seating, training new staff, and trying to market and promote a local family business. Previous owners had operated the restaurant for about 3 years before we took over; they had amazing ratings but were only based on word of mouth. They did not market or promote the business as much and a lot of Kaysvillians didn’t know Nikko was in their backyard.
A lot of people asked if was it a bad idea to start up a business during COVID. However, to me, I felt like it was a scary time with a lot of unknowns, but it was the best time. It gave us the momentum and the time we needed to make changes and to make improvements without being overwhelmed. The fear was also having a bad first impression. As people came in and realized Nikko was under new management, it was proving to them that we were just as good or even better. We took in customers’ feedback on what they liked and what they didn’t like.
Things were finally looking great and upward, but then inflation, wage increases, and shortages started which caused a huge challenge for the second year. Inflation and wage increases were difficult and stressful. We had to price check everywhere possible, but we had to pay for what the demand was. A lot of people would say, pass it on to the customers, they’ll understand and they already paying for the increase at the grocery stores.
As a small business that is already trying to promote and increase sales, couldn’t risk losing customers due to high prices or price increases. I had customers writing reviews and expressing that our costs were expensive. During that time, some places increased their prices 3-4 times within the year, we only did an increase in prices once. Wage increases were higher because we wanted to make sure our team was taken care of, we didn’t reduce their hours; but to balance inflation and wages, there were times we didn’t pay ourselves to keep all budgets and funding available.
We also had to make sure we had staffing to serve our customers during the busy time. So there were times we ran a skeleton crew, but there were times we were overstaffed trying to prevent and keep services consistent. Shortages became a real crisis; never have I had to face such shortages while being in the restaurant/business industry as long as I have. The panic of not having containers or ingredients for a specific recipe. Trying to think outside the box or make adjustments to what we were faced with. We had to constantly plan and think ahead of all the upcoming possibilities to prevent setbacks. On dry items or items that could be stored, we overstocked; which meant we had to spend even more money on inventory.
As that all finally calmed down and settled – now the concern is recession and the economy. We watch the news often to keep an eye on what is happening locally and nationally. This often allowed us to predict or prepare for slower business. When people are needing to tighten up their finances, they tend to cut down on eating out and entertainment. We often are the first to feel it. Currently, we have a small team and we run a skeleton crew because business has been slower. To maintain the staff’s hours and not have them worry about losing hours or lay off, we haven’t been able to hire more help.
My husband and I work along side with the team to support the team and provide the service to our customers. It can be tough when business gets busy or when I have team members calling out due to being sick/etc. There were times I couldn’t pay ourselves because we were trying to have the funds to take care of the staff, inventory, and bills. My husband has a full-time day job and I work at two hospitals as a PRN during the day. The first year we took over the business, we were doing well and business grew; and each year we have seen some slight declines. I would always question whether I was not marketing enough or has the food or service quality declined.
But then we’ll have a busy week or weekend that tells us that we’re doing great and the food is delicious. I often try to meet the guests and talk with the regulars to catch up. They always tell me that they’ve been busy with after school activities, trying to meal prep more, or not having enough time to enjoy a nice dinner. As a consumer, I try to coupon and budget; so I advertise and do promos to help our consumers; we should be able to still enjoy eating out even with a budget. So juggling sales, staffing a team, and serving the customers can be a difficult act, one that people may not understand or care to think about. The staff sometimes have had to deal with some rude customers or less patient and that isn’t fair either; I try to stand up for my staff…Through these 3 years, I’ve contemplated quitting and selling the business. We’re on a lease, so I’ve debated about whether it was worth renewing the contract. However, we have come so far and have grown the business, it’s hard to give up after everyone’s hard work and effort.
In all honesty, we wouldn’t make it this far if it was for the help of our family, our Nikko team, and our community. My parents came to help cook the first 6 months and my mother-in-law took care of our three children. Our Nikko team is tremendous and truly looks out for our best interest and treats our customers like family. We might be in a small city that isn’t as popular, but the community is very well connected and super supportive. We have met some awesome people and have developed many friendships! I’m very thankful for the each and every person that has been apart of this journey.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I love food and am a huge foodie. I love cooking and creating new dishes that people are willing to try and enjoy. To see them smile and enjoy the food we create brings me very satisfying happiness.
As a creator, I think of the flavoring and pairing in my mind, I imagine how the dish is plated or presented, and the availability of the ingredients or our customers’ flavor preferences. Then, I execute and make a prototype for the team to visualize and taste. After tasting and getting the teams’ feedback, we make tweaks to make the flavor more robust. We add extra flavors that would help enhance the flavor or we take away ingredients that may be too strong where other flavors can’t shine. This is the best part of what we do as chefs/cooks.
Another part I enjoy doing is customizing and creating menus for specific events, catering orders, or private parties. Our customers will order from our menu, but at times they have request for items that are not on the menu. Depending on their budget, I have done a complete off-menu where items are unique and prepared only for those individual parties. This is the perfect time to get to know the customer and their taste palate, their likes and dislikes, and help make their event special. I love events and being able to think outside the box. What’s hard is when the guests comes back looking for specific items that they had at a private party, and are not available.
We serve sushi, ramen, and a lot of Japanese entrees. We have tried to stick to Japanese food, we try to avoid infusing other cuisines into the restaurant. But never say never, we have made sushi tacos and might even have pho in the future (surprisingly, we do have that request often lol). We are very proud of every dish we serve because we genuinely want the customers to smile, enjoy the food as intended, see them return, and ask for more tastiness. We are proud of the freshness we serve and are constantly trying to be better.
We are known for the specialty sushi rolls and the authentic Japanese entrees that you might not see in the nearby Japanese restaurants. Ramen, Katsucurry, Katsudon, and a new addition Gyudon are some of the favorites.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting.
With the restaurant business starting, there are so many different advice and it’s constantly changing! Here are my top four:
1 – What is your goal and purpose of the restaurant and what community you’re serving. I find that often, everyone is excited about their ideas and being able to execute their dreams. However, does the purpose of the restaurant serve the community you’re serving? Your idea of a high-end restaurant or an elegant restaurant can be an amazing idea, but if you’re serving a community with a small population of elders or young families, would it be successful?
Does serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner make sense? We serve dinner only, because our lunch isn’t as busy and guests want a fast turn around because they have only 30 minutes of a lunch break and need to rush back to their office. While others do better serving breakfast and closing dinner. Is your goal to serve a # of guests, plan to expand into multiple locations, be a place for drinks and entertainment, etc? Whatever that is, survey your environment and the community surrounding you.
2 – Understand what you’re committing to. My husband went into the business thinking he would be able to hire a team and manage the restaurant hands off. He has zero restaurant background, except for working at Golden Corral during his college years. However, I told him that is unrealistic, especially in the first few years. I understand there are tons of restaurants that are run by the team and the owner may not be present often. However, the quality of things and the flow of the business are your own; you set the culture, the vibe of your business, and the care of the business or attention to the fine details are your own.
And things are always unknown and not as you plan it to be. First few years, we have been knee-deep and grinding along side the team. We make sure that we are their supporting the team when it is busy or we’re present if they have emergencies and can’t show up for work. We spent long hours preparing and prepping, weekend cleaning, working 7 days straight while maintaining our day jobs, and slowly invested in tools to make work easier as funding became available. If you do not want to work late nights, 6-7 days, holidays, long hours on your feet, filling in positions that require support, etc. then don’t do it. The restaurant business can be tough; there might be times when your family is put on the back burner, traveling is limited, and after-school activities or performances can be difficult to attend (you might miss some of them).
3 – Policies and Functions of your Restaurant. Everyone has different policies, most are similar but tweaked to make your business make sense. There isn’t a right or a wrong policy; what works for others, might not work for you. However, do your research, join restaurant owner groups, or network with other businesses.
It’s important to have a Business of Conduct or a Policy/Restaurant Manual, but know that it does change and you have to be able to adjust. The policies do affect the function of your business. What’s tough is one bad apple, you see the flaw in a policy and you have to adapt and adjust. I’ve changed and adjusted some of our policies because we’ve had some flaws that allowed opportunities for some members to take advantage of.
4 – Be Flexible and Adaptable. Staff calling out last minute and no coverage? Plan to cover that missing staff and multitask. Ingredient missing? Can your existing ingredient replace the missing ingredient? Power outage? Are you operating on a gas stove, do you have camping lights to light up the restaurant, or make the event into a candlelight dinner?
The water heater isn’t working and you have to resort back to the old sanitation method of cleaning/washing dishes. Things are going to happen especially when you least expect it. When that occurs, be flexible and be ready to adapt. The team turns to you and expects you to lead and you have to think on the spot.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nikko-restaurant.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikko.kaysville/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Nikko.Kaysville
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/nikko-sushi-and-ramen-kaysville?hrid=eruOo8vUxRz71p1RzooHSQ&osq=nikko+sushi
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nikko.kaysville
Image Credits
Jennifer Tran and Spothopper
