~&~ In place of an Afterword

~&~ In place of an Afterword

haruhiko okamoto

I’m often told, “Working in the food services industry is kind of hard.”

Every day, you repeat the same tiring duties. It’s not just that it’s a job where you have to stand up, but you run around so as not to make the customers wait, and you do it every single day.

During peak hours, your superiors’ harsh voices ring out, and a certain tension closes in. When you’re short staffed, you even give up your break time. When you get a harsh scolding from a customer, you become keenly aware of your own lack of power…

But in a modern restaurant, there are also amazing moments that you can only experience for yourself if you choose to work at one. The trivial occurrances, that we usually let pass, the important moments that shake our hearts; there are unimaginable discoveries scattered among the days of casual work.

Every day, we welcome many customers to our stores. A new acquaintance, a laughing voice, a deep emotion, a small blessing are always among them.

 

Important moments visit suddenly. When you put your whole body into taking time and trouble to prepare the food, you meet with the smiling face of a customer who’s joy comes from the bottom of their heart.

When you’re running everywhere to set up a new branch, and you finally overcome all the obstacles and open the store.

When you refuse to give up on a depressed little store and manage to restore it.

When you put an idea to improve your store out to your comrades and pull off perfect teamwork.

When you improve a dish that was considered dead through countless hours of trial and error.

When you move steadily forward in the support of your customers, despite setbacks, and build a thriving business.

When you debut your own small idea to the world.

When you’re made brave by the love and trust of your co-workers.

Nothing can replace words of thanks received from a customer, gratitude for a co-worker, self-confidence, bonds with friends, or the savoring of an important moment that soaks into your heart. One starts to wonder if there’s anything on earth more important than that.

 

Different passions and personalities also swirl through restaurants.

For every person who dreams of owning their own place, there’s someone who wants to refine the core of cooking, and someone who just likes food, someone who likes their co-workers, someone who wants to follow the path of service to its limit. Someone who’s fired up to put a new brand out there. Someone who secretly imagines a great overseas adventure.

We share heart-warming moments with important collegues who influence the restaurant business with their ideas. These moments are engraved eternally as memories of each other, and contribute hours to a rich life.

When you’re touched by someone’s sincere emotions, a deep feeling of gratitude is born.

This is the setting for sharing new discoveries and personal experiences with collegues in the midst of busy days, and for growing by leaps and bounds as human beings.

This is the best of the restaurant as a workplace.

 

We have debuted and managed many restaurants since our establishment. The sense of personal success in going through that process, the joy and sadness both, were always shared with our co-workers.

Everything starts with a small challenge, and we walk the path to sure maturity without even realizing it, supported by our collegues’ zealous emotions. It’s the same for businesses as it is for individuals.

If we demonstrate our individuality, our co-workers are emboldened, and if we summon our courage and take a step forward, a certain drama is born in that moment. Drama painted in the colors of individuality is engraved on the heart as something eternal.

The nine short stories of this collection were compiled based on actual events that took place in /create restaurants/ locations.

The names of the people and restaurants that appear in the stories have been changed slightly, but I think that the stories beautifully express important moments encountered by our business collegues.

In our current world, so full of risk and change, there is a tendancy to stress conducting one’s self cleverly, with an eye to ones gains and losses. In such an age, the simple, lovely value of working as hard as you can for someone else’s happiness is especially conspicuous. Giving it your all, with no deceit, without getting distracted. I want to conduct myself according to those steady values.

 

In the food service industry, something happens every day.

Real human drama, nothing glossed over. Fought with unadorned individuality, won or lost in the end with the ultimate weapon of human beings, sincerity. The world’s deepest emotion and best charm.

This is the restaurant business!

We shall continue to go out into the world and create restaurant business locations with charm.

 

create restaurants president and CEO
haruhiko okumoto

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