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The Kinjo Empire
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More Success Lessons from Sushi… and a BIG knife
September 9, 2010
by By Troy White, a huge Kinjo fan and marketing geek.
http://www.troysblog.com on
In the midst of an economy that has seen many businesses close their doors, one of them I have written about before is absolutely thriving in my own hometown of Calgary.
I am fanatic about their business. I frequent there bi-weekly (weekly lately). I have befriended the owner of this wonderful establishment.
And have seen firsthand how he manages to break weekly sales records, when the competition next door barely survives.
I went there last Friday – it was PACKED at 2:00 in the afternoon.
Holiday Monday this week…a NEW sales record.
Tuesday at 1:00 – PACKED.
Yes, Kinjo Sushi is an amazing success story in Calgary, where I live. A quaint little building on a busy road, with TERRIBLE parking.
But that doesn’t hold them back from turning over their tables up to 8 times a day!
No bull.
They can only seat 65 people – but average near 500 people a day. That’s 8 complete sell-outs a day! And growing. Fast.
The owner of this marketing-education-in-a-sushi-roll is Peter Kinjo.
This isn’t the first time he built an empire.
Prior to opening Kinjos, he was the entrepreneur behind Edo of Japan which was a fast food franchise business, selling Japanese food in shopping mall food courts.
He began with a single location and grew it to 30 locations quickly. One of his keys to success in Edo was showmanship.
He created an art to food preparation that was very vocal (two-way communication with the customer at all times while cooking their meal in front of them), and was also very visual (think flying knives and food made into an art form).
He was the King of Japanese Food preparation. And it made him very wealthy.
Once he found his magic formula for generating massive amounts of buyers, he cloned it and sold it through his franchises.
Then he got tired of it and sold out completely.
Kinjos is his next model
destined for massive success.
I used to be just a customer, but have now evolved it into a closer friendship with Peter.
He wants help going bigger, better, and more profitably.
His expansion plans are awesome, but are still quite confidential.
That said, I wanted to share more insights on how he continues to outsell every other restaurant around… day after day, after day.
Think about these success secrets. Combine them with the ones shared earlier in this article, and there truly is a formula for massive growth and profitability.
No hidden agendas – everything is shared amongst the staff.
Peter is the most open-book guy I have ever met. He shares his revenue numbers. His costs. His profitability. His own pay. He shares everything there is to know about his business model, with those who matter to his business. They all know what each other earns. They all know what is needed to move up to a new pay scale. They all know that his top Sushi chefs earn a FANTASTIC salary. And they all know how much bonuses are to be shared each month (more on this later).
Ongoing recruitment to upper level management and partnership.
He is constantly pushing his team to get better at what they do. To learn more. To try new things. To bring new ideas to the table. To talk more with the clients. He is training leaders every step of the way. Once they have proven themselves, he moves them up, pays them more, and starts pruning them for partial ownership (and they have to invest a huge amount of money to become partner).
Maybe this is a Japanese thing, but I rarely have seen North American business owners treat their people like this – especially encouraging them to be an owner in the company.
Think about your most important employee(s)… how could you encourage them to move up in responsibility and ultimately make them a partial owner? Think of how motivating that is to the right people!
Buck the trends and find innovative ideas that are working in far away countries.
Be the first (or close to) bringing it to your own city or country. Peter is about to launch something new. Something big. Something not done this way before. How? He found some hot trends that work in Japan, and is bringing them to Canada.
There is no reason at all you and I can’t take ideas that are kicking butt in completely different industries and countries – and MAKE them fit our own.
Laziness is really the only excuse why this won’t work. The internet makes your research easy – implementation is all that is needed. Test it out, gauge the response, roll out in a big way when your customers express their interest.
Push everyone who works for you to their physical and mental max.
He makes everyone work 7 days a week! For many people, that is unheard of.
Most of the nancy pancy young ‘uns coming up would be crying all the way to mom and dad over this. The newer generations don’t get what work ethic means… Peter insists on it.
There is a different light that goes on in their eyes when they do this, he says. You KNOW they are committed when they are working near 24×7 for you.
Most entrepreneurs I know work 7 days a week anyhow, to one degree or another. This is basically pruning your employees to think like an entrepreneur.
It’s ALL about the numbers.
Peter is an open book. He has recently shared with me every single number in his business. And his business is ALL about the numbers. As is yours and mine.
I mentioned in the previous article about Kinjos that he gives a lot of free food and chocolates away. 99.9% of restaurants I have frequented wouldn’t consider this, at all.
Peter knows what comes back when he gives away – he measures it. And it is a big reason his sales numbers go up every single week (without a stitch of advertising).
When you know your numbers intimately, you will find areas that you know are more profitable than others. Find ways to give back part of those profits to your customers. Then sit back and watch the word of mouth spread!
Think about the BIG, BIG picture.
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day running of your business. Doing just that can easily make the months and years fly by quickly… and you still have no big vision or exit plan.
Peter has a big vision. He shares it with his team. He gets them to buy into his idea. Everyone knows they are working towards it.
Then he one-ups the big vision and shares the next level he is taking things to.
Each level has his employees more tied in to the results. They are earning more. They are buying in to the business. He gets them to be part of his vision – and they work harder than anyone to make sure that vision comes to fruition.
Develop a mini-me – then another.
A BIG part of Kinjos’ success is Peter. He is the personality in the business. He is funny. He waves around his big sushi knife in a threatening, yet funny way. He gets his entire staff to stop what they are doing and sing to people. He gives every girl that frequents Kinjos a box of free chocolates.
Everyone talks about Peter and the wacky things he does. So in order to expand, he needs more of him. So he clones himself so that people continue to talk and share, even when Peter isn’t there.
Same thing with his Edo franchise – he needed to develop 30 of himself, in order to get each franchise making the right numbers.
How can you take your business, multiply it bigger, then grow it rapidly?
Many of us here are info marketers, consultants and writers. Think about how you can take the ideas shared here, incorporate them into your business, perfect them, then use that to start up new niches, new operations, new expansion opportunities. All it takes is some brain power and initiative.
Work DAMN hard.
Here is a guy who has made millions, doesn’t need the money any more, but still works 7 days a week. His big picture dream will make sure he makes many more in the next 10 years, but it also makes sure that his best people will ALSO make millions along with him.
Amidst all the make-a-million-overnight nonsense being pitched online, you know as well as I that the people really living a fulfilled life are the ones who work hard and love what they are working for.
PASSION. Few people I know have the passion that Peter does.
He oozes it. Everyone he talks to or deals with knows how passionate he is about his business. Find your ‘why’ and build your passion level to a frenzied pitch – then share it with everyone around you. Passion is the driving force that does guarantee your success. Find it.
Spoil and mastermind with your team.
He brings his top managers (now part owners) to his home every Monday afternoon for a mastermind meeting. He feeds them. He shares the vision. He gets to the root of the numbers. Then he takes them out for dinner and drinks. Talk about team building (this is after they have already worked the day!).
Not only that, once you have proven yourself to him, he helps pay for your holidays, your health care, gives you healthy bonuses, etc.
He knows that commitment and hard work are needed from everyone in his team… and is willing to invest in nurturing it in everyone.
We all get busy trying to build our businesses. Sometimes our business distracts us from the more important opportunities at hand.
What I am sharing here is a blueprint that anyone can pull ideas from. I am not sharing anything confidential here – anyone with an astute eye for detail could invest time in Kinjos and see these things happening around them.
So pay attention to the Kinjos in your world, they could lead to some incredible breakthrough ideas!
If you are near Calgary, look me up. I would love to go for lunch with you and show you firsthand how he is taking over the Sushi market in a city of 1.2 million people.
To your success,
Troy White
Editor, Small Business Mastery
Supplement to THE TOTAL PACKAGE
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The Kinjo Empire
Prior to opening Kinjos, he was the entrepreneur behind Edo of Japan which was a fast food franchise business, selling Japanese food in shopping mall food courts.
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