Hasegawa’s next venture was a pub in Roppongi aimed at mainly the foreign community, which was the result of careful marketing analysis and word-of-mouth. He followed this up with a series of international food restaurants. Today, Global-Dining operates such well known restaurants as Gonpachi, Zest and Tableaux.

Hasegawa has become a charismatic business leader with a clear philosophy and extraordinary experience, which has drawn a lot of media attention.

Q. What does Global-Dining consist of?
A. We have four main restaurant concepts including Café La Boheme, Monsoon Café, Zest and Gonpachi and some experimental restaurants mainly based in the Tokyo area. At first, we targeted “trendy cool customers” like cutting-edge businesspeople working in central Tokyo. But we are currently trying to target a wider range of customers, including families. Our restaurants in central Tokyo are especially appreciated by foreign expats. Additionaly we have three restaurants in Los Angeles.

Q. Eating out is the largest leisure industry in Japan now.
A. In the past, eating out wasn’t considered entertainment. People used to eat out just because they got hungry, which wasn’t necessarily a gourmet experience. There weren’t so many restaurants, like now. As Japanese society has matured, the industry has developed and people learned to enjoy eating out at restaurants as a complete package of good quality food and services.

Q. What do you think about the recently increasing awareness of “safe food” among consumers?
A. In general, if we simplify the cooking process, it would be more efficient. But at the same time, the food would be simple and boring. Now, the restaurant industry deals with semi-prepared materials in the kitchen, so professional chefs can make more creative food. This trend results in increased risks, such as food poisoning. Our company believes safe food also means good quality. We emphasize the traceability of ingredients. We don’t purchase or use what we can’t trace.

Q. How are your restaurants managed?
A. What is difficult in the restaurant business, I think, is that we have to carefully analyze a lot of factors, such as location, weather, customer needs, estimating future revenue and using all the materials ordered. Good chefs can do this job well because they have a strategic mind as well as cooking skills. We also analyze data numerically, and those who are in management positions are expected to make use of the data.

Q. What about international business?
A. I wish we could educate future leaders within our company for international business, rather than relying solely on hiring experienced people. Many companies think they can easily do business abroad if they hire experienced consultants. But I don’t think so. I want to make more people in the world think that Global-Dining produces the best and brightest human resources — more people want to learn and be successful in our company. We currently have three restaurants in the U.S. But since we haven’t perfected this internal training program, we’re still being challenged there.

Q. The government plans to certify “Japanese restaurants” abroad. What do you think of that?
A.
I think it is nonsense. If the food is not attractive to customers, the approval makes no sense. It’s customers who do the certifying. The food culture is always changing. Whether it is genuine or not is irrelevant in the competitive market.

Q. Any strategies for foreign customers in Japan?
A. We have English descriptions on our menus. By providing and improving our services, we hope more foreigners will enjoy their time at our restaurants. We don’t advertise specifically to foreigners. They know our restaurants. We believe Word-of-mouth is the most effective to publisize because the foreign community is small. But at the same time, we sometimes donate free-meal tickets to some organizations, such as international schools, which is also good publicity.

Q. You have a “self-recommendation job-duty system” in your company. How does that work?
A. As respecting our staff’s individual intentions and ‘democracy’ is the principle idea of our company; our personnel system is based on self-recommendation. What we evaluate is their achievements and performance rather than their age or length of service, and positions are granted according to their capability. When there is an open managerial position or when we need to select personnel for a new restaurant, applicants are sought from the entire employee pool including part-time staff. Our staff do not have to flatter to their bosses because they can choose what they want to work on. So far ｗe haven’t had big issues with the system.

Q. What’s your internal training like?
A. First of all, employees need to share our corporate philosophy, which is a must. I think talented people have a logical mind and will continue making efforts to achieve their goals. The purpose of internal training for employees is to improve their individual values as business people in addition to improving group performance, which sustains individual skills. For example, communication skills in English can increase their value. We, of course, accept those who already have skills obtained in other companies, but the ideal staff ratio is 70% of our “self-made” employees and 30% of those who have had previous careers.

Q. What about foreign employees?
A. We want more foreign staff not only as restaurant staff but also as professionals. Currently, we have some foreigners employed as chefs and wine directors, for example. The visa issue is the biggest problem. We are always looking for foreign staff with legal visa status and who can speak English. All of our staff are challenged with a rigorous and competitive restaurant environment, and we hope foreigners are eager to experience the same.

Q. Do you have issues now?
A. We have two main issues currently. One is that we need to modernize the company so that young managers can manage the business on their own: until now, we have been a “top-down” business model in which I as a leader directed everything and employees were requested to achieve it. We are discussing a succession plan. The other is that we need to be competent in global business. For this, we have an exchange program for our employees so they can work in our restaurants in the U.S.

Q. What’s your future perspective?
A. We’d like to open more restaurants across Japan and abroad. But the scale of the Japanese restaurant market cannot get much bigger, I think. In terms of environmental protection, doing more business means destroying the environment. So, there is a dilemma and we need to make a balance, maximizing profit.

Q. What’s your management style?
A. I let our staff do as they want, as long as they can show me a positive outcome. I’d like to create an environment where everybody can enjoy working.

Q. How do you spend your weekends?
A. I sometimes run for exercise and health management. I took part in the Honolulu Marathon last year. But since my hobby is working, there is not a clear line between my private life and business life.