Roy Yamaguchi: Hawaii's humble chef is working harder than ever before and sharing what he's learned

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan, 1997 by Ellen Koteff

Roy Yamaguchi believes a chef's place is in the kitchen, not in the dining room, working the crowd -- even if the crowd happens to include, as it did recently, the president of the United States.

During a post-election Honolulu vacation President Clinton and the first lady dined at Roy's but only got to meet the Japanese-born Yamaguchi when the leader of the free world distinctly made a point of doing so.

"I Think people should be humble; they should cook for their customers," Yamaguchi says. "A chef has to be able to please rather than fulfill his own ego."

Since opening the original Roy's restaurant on the eastern Honolulu shore in 1988, The Culinary Institute of America graduate has amassed a global string of 12 restaurants, which currently tally $34 million in sales annually. Plans for 1997 call for additional restaurants in Yamaguchi's global empire, which already includes outposts in Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Seattle, and Pebble Beach, Calif.

"In 1997 our sales should be close to $50 million," says Yamaguchi, whose ultimate goal is at least $100 million in sales.

Equally high on the 40-year-old Yamaguchi's agenda is to keep the quality up at his fine-dining establishments. "We're not perfect, but by keeping the right individuals in your establishment, you can keep the quality consistent," he says.

Yamaguchi's cuisine is hard to classify but blends the influences of three continents -- Europe, Asia and North America or, more specifically, the flavors and fresh ingredients of Hawaii.

"I concentrate on great food, which mixes French, Italian, Japanese, Thai and Chinese influences," he says. "The flavors are very evident, very tasty, and overall they are unique. You can recognize them when you eat them, but they come together in a different way."

During the last nine years a driving ambition, an intense passion for his cooking and an obvious business savvy have catapulted Yamaguchi to the perfect place -- at the top of his fine-dining galaxy of restaurants, where he can leave the hiring and firing to someone else. It's not the hiring Yamaguchi has trouble with but rather the firing.

"I've never been able to fire anyone. I just don't like to," Yamaguchi says. "I tell them that they're fired, and they show up for work the next day."

A case m point was busboy Adam, whom Yamaguchi once fired three times in one night. Adam is now a manager at Roy's Kahana Bar & Grill in Math.

But despite his aversion to firing, Yamaguchi is considered a tough boss.

David T. Abella, corporate chef for Maui, insists Yamaguchi is a man of few words, but he knows how to get his point across.

"All Roy has to do is look, and you know what he wants. He's tough," asserts Abella, who helped recently train the staff for the newest Roy's in Seattle.

Yamaguchi, who has experience managing people from many cultures and regions of the world, sees a distinct difference between training Japanese and American workers.

"The Japanese are very good at duplicating, whereas in America it's almost natural for them to be creative because they feel they can do it better.

"The Japanese really honor and respect their bosses because that's what they've been told to do."

Apparently, it's the American influences that have fostered Yamaguchi's confidence and the Japanese influences that have fostered his humble nature.

"I have a lot of confidence in what I do," he says. "I've always had it, but I never really think that I've achieved success. I have confidence in opening new restaurants, but this industry is such a volatile business that you can only achieve success one day at a time."

As Abella explains: "Roy's the humblest of any of them. He's won so many awards, but it doesn't mean a thing. Every time he gets an award he says you have to work 10 times harder."

Working harder these days translates to between 60 and 90 hours per week, with the bulk of his time spent in the kitchen, often on only three or four hours of sleep. Yamaguchi estimates he travels about four months of the year and logs about 150,000 miles annually.

And that pace is likely to pick up with possible new sites on the drawing board for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; and Mahati in the Philippines.

"His timing has been great in opening restaurants," says Stanley Paperny, Yamaguchi's friend and accountant since 1984. "He's got some good ideas and wonderful plans for future growth. I think he's going to be a giant in the industry."

Part of Yamaguchi's expansion plans calls for adding five or six casual Outback Steakhouse units to his corporate portfolio. He has the franchise rights for Outback in Hawaii, with the first opening scheduled for July 1997 in Honolulu.

"I really believe in this concept," Yamaguchi says. "They truly take care of their employees."

While Yamaguchi is clearly on a growth track and has been a millionaire since the age of 38, it wasn't always so and he credits the failure of his trendy 385 North restaurant in Los Angeles as the basis of his successes, which include a highly acclaimed cookbook, "Roy's Feasts from Hawaii," and a television show, "Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi."