“We are fortunate that we have a great chef and kitchen manager in one. This is one of the most integral components of the business”
By Ashfaque Zaman
Studying construction management, and pursing a career in interior and graphic design, Ali Arsalan extended his passion into a space for fine dining and quality entertaining. He is now one of the minds behind two of the most successful high-end restaurant businesses in Dhaka, O Kitchen and Izumi.
How did the idea for Izumi formulate?
I know it will seem hard to believe but it came out of a few of my friends speaking when we played golf. We always had the desire to open a café, however when my business partner had discovered the space that is now Izumi and we arrived to examine the space the next morning. We realized that the space was too big for a café and decided that it was better suited to be a restaurant. After brainstorming, we wanted to try for an authentic Japanese restaurant because it wasn’t around at all.
Within a few years, a number of restaurants have opened in Dhaka, why do you think this significant increase has occurred?
Primarily it is because there is not much to do except eat in Dhaka. The trends have changed since the ‘90s; a time when people would just have a cook and family get together. With the increase in traffic and population, travelling is not as convenient therefore there is a need to localize the kind of food within the individual neighborhoods.
To what do you attribute most your long-term success?
You really have to passionate about what you are doing. It may sound a bit cliché but it is important to know the food that your are serving and the quality that your desire to maintain. You need to have niche items that you primarily focus on. It may take anywhere from 3 months to a year in order to reach a profitable market but the customers’ continuous satisfaction with the meal that they are having will result in the growth. Do not try to go for a 100-item menu where you are trying to give them a taste of everything. That creates a hectic environment where hypothetically you end up serving a beef, a chicken and a seafood dish in the same sauce. This leaves no one satisfied.
Given your attention to every detail of the restaurant, whether it is food or design, how do you find people to bring into your organization that truly care about it the way you do?
The most important quality that you have to demonstrate for those people that are working for you is that you are willing to put just as much work and more into the business. Your passion should set the standard for the passion that they should have. For example, when we were redesigning the outdoor area, it was a 48-hour project. My partner and I supervised the entire project for the entire duration of the time. This in turn, shows everyone that is working that every job is significant in the smoothly running a restaurant.
As a restaurant manager, how important do you think to have hands-on experience in the business?
We are fortunate that we have a great chef and kitchen manager in one. This is one of the most integral components of the business. You need to know your inventory and this is exactly how. If you are importing certain cut and items, this kind of experience teaches you precisely how to handle it or it will go to waste. Any amount of inventory is costly, some of which needs to be used within a few days or handled in s specific way. If this is not implemented, a kitchen will not run successfully or profitably.
What is the greatest challenge of running a high-end restaurant in Dhaka?
The price. You don’t want to alienate people but you also want to maintain quality. As much as we would like to make it affordable, we do not want to compromise in quality with substitute ingredients. We try to make it more accessible with a lunch menu and through the Iftar menu in order to entice customers and demonstrate that the price for the food is worth it; Japanese food isn’t to everyone’s taste as of it, it is still growing.
What was your greatest setback and what did you learn?
Our greatest setback was during Ramadan, we had an empty restaurant for the first 5 days with hardly two to three tables being booked. We were going to close for the month but by the second week I had come up with the idea of the Bento box as a fixed meal because it will be an unconventional Iftar. By the last week, we were fully booked that year. It taught me to constantly innovative and perfect that innovation. We only so a limited amount of Bento boxes even if we have space because a standard should be maintain. Once that standard is recognized, it will increase the outcome. We now know there is specified time for profit and for quality.
Of the four restaurant business models (chain restaurant, retail brand empire, built-to-sell, and restaurant as personal passion), which one do you believe you follow?
We definitely follow the personal passion model because this is something we love to do. Once we had witnessed the success of Izumi, we decided to open O Kitchen four years later. We knew that at that point, we could venture into a wider range of cuisine while maintaining excellent quality.
What is your advice for young entrepreneurs who want to start a new restaurant business?
Frankly speaking from personal experience, you should have a separate source of income. I know this may sound demotivating but on a practical level it is very necessary. My partners and I all had secondary sources of income, and at first if losses incurred we would have to compensate for it from our own pockets. If the losses accumulate, it will be apparent and will decrease the brand value of a restaurant. Given that there is another source to maintain quality and nullify defect, the standard retains and this leads to profit.
Secondly, you should stay within your limitation. Do not try to be too extravagant at first. A professional painter has designed our restaurants however this was not the case when we opened. You should know the limitation and primarily focus on your quality before any embellishments or more extravagant incorporations are made, the grandeur of a restaurant should increase with the success and growth of the restaurant.
Check out the wonders of O Kitchen’s delicacies in ICE Today’s December 2015 issue or at www.icetoday.net.
