I think there are quite a few people who think, "I'll rent a space and start a curry restaurant, and if it goes well, I'll open a brick-and-mortar store."
First, I did some research and searched for information about renting a curry restaurant. I found a lot of success stories and advice, but not many failure stories.
That's to be expected. In many cases, when a business fails, it closes without anyone noticing, so stories of failure don't often come to light.
So!
We would like to take a look back at the situation at Spice Curry Izon, which rented space from January to August 2022, and provide you with some real information.
I believe this article will be of some help to those who are about to start renting, those who are thinking about starting someday, and those who are still undecided, so I hope you will read it to the end.
This blog was written by Nakayama (who was an employee of a company with no connection to izon at the time and is now an izon staff member), who has been observing the owner Yoshifuji's situation closely, and is supervised by Yoshifuji.
Although this is not an account of the person in question, I hope to provide something as close to the truth as possible, so I hope you will enjoy it.
First, let us use a diagram to explain what kind of business model "renting" is.
What is renting a room?
The text in blue indicates the benefits of both.
Those renting out space can increase their income by renting out their spare time.
Those renting space are allowed to use the facilities, so they can open their business without much investment and can also receive introductions to customers.
That's right. It seems like a win-win situation for both parties, but of course there are also disadvantages for both.
If the party renting out the space declares, "We will no longer rent out from next month," the person renting the space will not be able to continue even if they want to.
If a tenant causes food poisoning, the renter will be held responsible and may be subject to disciplinary measures such as being suspended from business.
The business license is also shared.
This is the business model known as "renting space," and the reality is that unless there is a relationship of trust between the renter and the renter, it is difficult to continue operating the business.
If you imagine a situation where the person renting out a space is a sensitive person and the person renting it is careless, it is easy to imagine a case where things would not go well.
If the person renting out the space doesn't like something, that's the end of it. It's a pretty strict business model. That's what "renting" is all about.
How Spice Curry Izon started renting space
In 2021, Yoshifuji, the owner of izon, quit his job at a military apparel wholesale company where he had worked for about 10 years and started a second-hand clothing store.
Thus began "used clothing izon," operating out of a tenement space of about 8 tatami mats on the first floor of an old apartment building in the middle of a residential area in Kamigyo Ward. At the same time, he also began life as a self-employed person, taking charge of costumes for a theater company.
However, there weren't many customers at the newly opened second-hand clothing store, and I wasn't always available for costume work.
The schedule at that time was like this:
Unable to earn the income he wanted, Yoshifuji was living off his savings. One day,
"I have time from morning until noon, so I'd like to do curry or ramen at lunchtime, and then open a second-hand clothing store from around 3 p.m."
That's what comes to mind.
"If I make ramen, it will be covered in flour and it will affect the second-hand clothing store, so let's make curry instead."
That was the only reason why I decided to rent space and start a curry restaurant.
I had no business plan, no experience, and just a random idea.
However, I didn't start out without any plans. A friend I've known for 10 years runs a Thai restaurant that mainly operates through Uber Eats next door to the space I rented for my second-hand clothing store, so it was an easy environment to rent space from.
This situation also played a major role in my being able to put my idea into action.
I asked an old friend if I could borrow his space, and he readily agreed.
It was also a godsend for my friend's Thai restaurant, which mainly catered through Uber Eats, so the dining area inside the restaurant wasn't being used much.
After that, I made spiced curry at home for the first time, practiced for about a month, and once I had it pretty much down, I rented a space and started operating the business.
Decisive mistake number 1
Well, so far it seems like things are going well, right?
The owner of the place I'm renting is an old acquaintance, so there don't seem to be any of the disadvantages I mentioned earlier, and since I'm renting space next to the second-hand clothing store, I don't have to waste time traveling.
Make effective use of the time you have been wasting and earn new income.
As a test of his ability, he devotes himself wholeheartedly to the business of a rented spice curry restaurant.
He seems very passionate and it makes you want to cheer him on from the sidelines, but Yoshifuji made a big mistake.
The reason is that everything I have written in this blog up to now has been something I have pushed through almost entirely on my own, without really consulting my family.
The first crucial mistake was, "Starting renting a room without consulting anyone."
Yoshifuji always told his wife, who shared the household finances, about his plans to quit his job, start a second-hand clothing store, and open a curry restaurant in a rented space, only after the fact.
From his wife's perspective, even though she wanted to express her opinion or make a business plan, he just started it without her permission, so she must have felt more than angry, she must have been astonished.It's only natural that she would grow distrustful of her husband who wouldn't even try to consult with her in the first place, and it seems likely that the more Yoshifuji tried, the wider the gap would have become.
It is hard to imagine the pain I will feel as everything in my life with my husband proceeds without any consultation.
Before getting excited about second-hand clothes, curry, or renting space, I think the most important thing is to have the understanding of your family.
If you are reading this and are thinking of starting something new, be sure to get permission from people close to you before starting.
If you're not good at speaking, try writing it down.
If you're not good at planning, get someone to help you plan it.
If you think what you've come up with is great, ask them if it's great.
Don't assume that because they're family they will help you.
Start by expressing your feelings in some way.
I think your ideas will expand, you will find areas for improvement, and you will be able to refine your plans. And best of all, if all goes well, you will have more people willing to help you with your business, which is very encouraging.
The lesson learned from failure is that you should not start something on your own. It is important to discuss it first.
Decisive mistake #2
The space was rented and started operating in January 2022, but the number of customers per day is around 1 to 6 people.
I think it's amazing that we started without any connections and yet we still have a high number of visitors, but the numbers don't mean we've been successful.
When analyzing that time,
- I started posting pictures of the curry at my restaurant on Instagram.
- At the time, Instagram's algorithm favored posts about "photogenic food."
- Hashtags were effective on Instagram at the time.
- As a result, izon's posts were recognized by core curry lovers in Kyoto.
That's all, it was just a coincidence that the number wasn't zero.
The second crucial mistake is "haphazard, unplanned management."
The illustration above is the PDCA cycle.
Let's improve work efficiency by properly repeating "P: Plan" → "D: Do" → "C: Check" → "A: Improve". This is the idea behind KAIZEN, which has become standard in factories around the world.
Let's apply the Spice Curryizon of that time to this cycle.
- Since I started it on a whim, there was no plan to begin with.
- Therefore, the content of "D: Execution" cannot be "C: Evaluation".
- Therefore, there is no way to "A: improve".
It was like that.
Starting something without a plan means throwing yourself into the situation and giving in to unfounded optimism.
When Yoshifuji tried to think of why there weren't many customers, he had no idea whether it was the curry, the Instagram posts, the appearance of the restaurant, or his own customer service, so he had no choice but to desperately try to do something.
"The only way to survive among the many curry restaurants in Kyoto is to make curry that is original!"
With this decision in mind, Yoshifuji abandoned standard curry and began serving his own original style of curry.
Let's think about this calmly for a moment.
Was there really no other option than to create an original curry ?
Maybe there was something else that should have been done.
what would you do?
Plan your rental
Here are some things you could do given the situation at hand:
- Research needs and trends
- Learn from the best of popular curry restaurants
- Study the theory of attracting customers through SNS
- Quantify your sales goals and set deadlines for achieving them
- Posting in the neighborhood
- Rely on your network
- Ask a colleague for advice
I've listed some of the things that came to mind.
(1.2.3.4.)
Research and goal setting will not necessarily increase the number of customers. However, it is absolutely necessary to turn the PDCA cycle, which goes "P: Plan" → "D: Execute" → "C: Evaluate" → "A: Improve" → "P: Plan"...
There are many books and Kindle books on attracting customers and marketing for restaurants. We recommend that you refer to books with many reviews and high ratings.
(5.)
Although it is an analogue task, it is also important to advertise your store in the surrounding area. Be sure to advertise your store while following proper etiquette and the law.
(6.)
Just making curry is a lot of work, so doing all the other tasks on your own is pretty hard. If you can get help from family or friends, that's the best.
Just having someone to help you do the dishes can significantly reduce your overall work time, allowing you to spend more time on other things.
(7)
The opinions of people who are currently running businesses are extremely valuable.
Even if there are some points that differ from your own ideas, they should be able to give you some suggestions, so if there is a store you frequent and you are in an environment where you can talk to the owner, it might be a good idea to consult them at a time that doesn't interfere with their business.
Changing the approach of the curry will lead to more customers - this was the conclusion I came to after thinking it over alone, but it didn't result in any sudden improvement in the situation.
He was hoping to make some money by making good use of his free time at the second-hand clothing store by selling curry in the rented space, but a lot of the curry he had prepared went unsold, and since it would be a shame to throw it away, he continued to eat it himself.As a result, he gained about 15 kilograms and his financial deficit widened.
Summary of how Spice Curry Izon opened a brick-and-mortar store after renting space for 8 months (Part 1)
We looked back on the actual operation of Spice Curry Izon, renting space from January to April 2022, including areas for improvement.
From now on, we will be making various efforts to improve the situation and will be opening a physical store in October, but I will write about what happened from April to October in Part 2 of my blog.
In the second part, we will take a deeper look at the branding and marketing that was undertaken to raise public awareness of Spice Curry Izon and attract customers to its stores, as well as what kind of work the owner, Yoshifuji, did.
One last note. "Supporting Curry Restaurants," available at izon's specialty stores, is a book written by Nakayama, the author of this blog, based on interviews he conducted with SPICE CHAMBER , Sunlight , Spice curry fam , INDIA GATE , Spice curry kiteretsu (titles omitted), and people who support the owners of popular curry restaurants in Kyoto.
There is also a Kindle version of Supporting Curry Restaurants .
I think there are many useful points for those who are thinking about renting a room, so please give it a read!
