Erin Archuleta and her husband, Tim, opened Ichi Sushi five years ago in San Francisco after operating a catering company in the Bay Area for several years. During that time, they made it through the recession, navigated expansion, and figured out ways to stand out from the crowd.
She spoke with us recently about pushing the boundaries—for both her customers and employees—and what other restaurant owners would be wise to look out for.
Here’s our Q&A, condensed and edited for clarity.
SQ: Tell us a bit about Ichi Sushi. You have a sushi bar and oyster shop, yes?
EA: We’re an Edo-style sushi restaurant in Bernal Heights. When we started five years ago, we were one of the only sushi bars like this—we season the nigiri ourselves. Instead of serving soy sauce and wasabi, we do the seasoning in-house, and the diner sits back and experiences the fish. We want the fish to be the star. And, yes, our oyster bar is right across the street.
SQ: How do you source ingredients?
EA: We’ve had a relationship with our fish guy forever. Tim’s known him longer than he’s known me! (He was a guest at our wedding.) He’s a fourth generation sushi fish purveyor and he has people in the field who verify the sustainable practices the fishermen promote.
We work with a ton of small vendors for ingredients, like our caviar guy, who’s local. We also work with two international vendors who are rigorous in their sourcing and reporting. That’s critical for us in ensuring consumer safety and integrity.
SQ: Tell me about hiring. Did you look for something different in early hires than you do now? Does it vary by position, e.g. a server vs. manager?
EA: Yes and yes. In a startup environment, you want people who love the challenge and taking on many roles. As your restaurant matures, you want people who are interested in a community, who can cultivate your regulars. For management, it’s good to have people who know a little about a lot of areas. The No. 1 attribute we hire for is kindness. You can teach people anything but you can’t make someone nice.
You’re not just creating a cool ambiance, cooking, and serving food. Nine tenths of your life is being an employer. We have 30+ employees. My whole world is, “Is the health care security ordinance filed correctly? Are my quarterly numbers right? Did I remit sales tax?”
SQ: I’m interested in how you get the word out. What have been some of the most effective ways to market Ichi?
EA: It’s all organic. We do social media and see that the bulk of our followers live in the community. Then we have a newsletter that’s geared to the neighborhood. We highlight achievements of our staff and milestones (one employee just got married!). It’s very personal. We’re all about humanizing everybody in the room.
SQ: What keeps you and your husband up at night?
EA: Money, for always and forever. The big problem is that fine dining is an old model: the highest labor costs in a rising labor cost market, the highest food costs, and highest spend. We need to make sure our menu remains accessible for people of all budgets, while also pitching the Hollywood Reporter.
Money’s important because you never know when you’ll get hit. Your pipes will burst, you’ll have a legal issue, your oven might die, you’ll probably have to drill sewer pipe to get the toilet working. The cash you have on hand is crucial.
SQ: So what tips do you have for other restaurant owners?
EA: I can think of a few:
- If you’re brand new, make sure you hire a financial professional (accountant) and have a sound legal foundation (an attorney). Those are the two most critical relationships other than your business partner. The possibility of an audit or exposure means it’s important to be prepared.
- If you’re an established place, it’s about keeping things new and fresh. How do you ensure you’re innovating?
- Make sure what the consumer wants is also your core competency.
- Finally, always be the best employer possible for your employees. I think, “Am I providing the best ladder for growth? Am I allowing them to be their best self at work?”
SQ: Tell me about the Mission Bernal Merchants Association. And what does it mean for you to be part of the Bernal Heights community?
EA: I actually co-founded the group. We couldn’t get extra trash pickups for the extra trash that piled up after the Giants’ last World Series celebration. Someone said, “If you start a formal association, you can get your trash picked up.” It worked!
Through the support of the City of San Francisco’s Invest in Neighborhoods program and Bay Area LISC, we hired a corridor manager and created grant initiatives for greening the corridor. And when the city put in the water pipeline, we arranged that they also put in a parklet. I’m no longer president of the group but I’m very engaged. We love being part of Bernal Heights and the Merchants Association brings us all closer together.
