Exploring Life & Business with Tamara Assaf of Teppanyaki Supreme

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tamara Assaf.

Hi Tamara, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I think I would have to say that this all started when I was a server in Benihana, and then Covid happened, and we all got laid off. I had a little bit of money saved from being a server there, and I convinced one of my chefs to quit as well and that we should start our own thing and then while we were waiting for our food truck to be built, we started selling food on the street like the taco vendors and then that actually hit we were selling really well, people were really loving the food and then the food truck was built a year after that we tried like three different locations before we found our spot where we’re at now. We have so many regular customers now and we have really good business at our spot, and we open there every day. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would definitely be lying if I said it was a smooth road to get here. Because it’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but it’s also the most rewarding. I feel like the whole path of my life led me here, even though I studied filmmaking, and I came here to try to do something in that, and then I decided that I didn’t like it anymore, and I went into food instead. I just think it’s really hard to keep everybody happy in the Food world because so many people like different things, but for the most part, I would probably say the hardest part is learning how to deal with all your employees because people are so different and no two people are the same so you really have to learn how to talk to people and how to just be on everybody’s good side even when you are not in a good mood and when you don’t feel like talking to anybody or doing anything. You still have to show up with a smile on your face and motivate everybody to do a good job… 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a catering company and a food truck. The food truck, we have two now they’re both in the same location every day. We open around 11 hours, and we have steak chicken, shrimp, fried rice, noodles, lobster, anything hibachi you can think of we have. Our catering services are special because we go to your house. We set up tables, chairs, plates, some decorations, and then the chef cooks in front of you over there. Everybody serves their food, hot and fresh off the grill, and then we clean up everything, and we leave. It’s basically like a little restaurant comes to your house. Does everything for you and then is on their way 

What were you like growing up?
I think I’ve always been a very caring kid and I’ve always tried to help as much as I can. My mom says I always wanted to share my toys with everybody, even if they had a lot. I just always wanted to give things away, and I’m really still like that now, and I wish I wasn’t. To be honest, as a kid, the only thing I wanted was to grow up. I never really wanted to be a princess or a doctor or anything like that. I just wanted to grow up; that’s all that I was excited about, and now that I am growing up, I kind of wish I was still a kid, but no, being an adult is awesome. There’s just a lot of challenges that you don’t think that you would ever have to go through, but you definitely do it makes you such a strong person when you come out on the other side, but I’ve always been very strong-willed and strong-minded and I’ve always done what I’ve wanted to do like if I say I wanna do something I’m definitely gonna do it just like I did my business. My dad has always been a go-getter, and he’s always had the most positive energy I have ever seen in my life, so I think that really rubbed off on me as an adult, and I love him for that because it’s really made me change the way I think about things and the way I deal with things And being positive is definitely something very important to be able to have to be able to deal with things in life. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.teppanyakisupreme.com
• Instagram: Teppanyakisupreme