March 27, 2017

Meet Farzad Youshei of Yooshi Sooshi in Encino

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Farzad (Zad) Youshei.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 1999, my family and I were finally able to escape Iran and move to the USA. I remember my father coming home and letting us know that we finally got our visas. A feeling of excitement filled the room. Of course, I was too young to fully understand the importance of it, but I remember that we all breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t too long ago, that the Iranian secret service walked in to our house Shabbat Night, to arrest my father for aiding Jewish teenagers avoid getting drafted into the army by escaping the country.

Within three months, we had prepared enough to be able to leave the country and start our new life. Even though we had not yet sold the house, car, or any other assets, we grabbed the opportunity and started our journey to the land of the Free. We landed in California September 15, 1999.

After 3 years of struggling, in 2002, with the help of GD, my father was able to purchase a mom and pop, kosher, pizza operation in Encino. My uncle gave us a loan to purchase the business.

Back then, the Jewish community was not as thriving as it is right now, but we were able to manage a profitable business for a short period of time by providing hot lunches for schools and other organizations. Being the last child, I was only 12 or 13 years old at the time, but I would put in work whenever I could. During this time, my older brother and father were the ones running the business.

After 1 year, my brother wanted to expand, and decided to buy the Israeli Shawarma restaurant next door to us; however, a good idea is not such a good idea after all. After a few years struggling, he decided the best thing to do was to close the meat restaurant, and expand the pizza shop. My brother got started on the construction and built a new kitchen. My brother loved building things. After the renovations, my brother got married, and decided that he didn’t want to be a part of this business anymore and pursued his education. I must have been 18 at the time, going to college and working in sales, when I decided to finally take over the business and start implementing the ideas that have been running through my head. I created a new menu, took care of staffing, addressed some service issues, etc. I was still too inexperienced to be solely responsible for the livelihood of my family, but I did my best with what I had with the help of my family.

Before my brother left the business, he had built a sushi bar in the extra space available. He had the funky idea that Pizza and Sushi would be a great combo, specially, since there were no other kosher sushi bars to compete with. Funky or not, the space was just there collecting dust. He had pretty much built it and abandoned it. I remember thinking to myself: how hard can it be to open up a sushi bar? I’ll post an ad to find the right chef, and will scope out successful establishments and implement their ideas.
I ran home with the idea. I hired a chef, created a menu, bought the right equipment, and after 1 month of planning, I launched my sushi bar in 2008. It took people a second to realize how bomb French fries and sushi taste together.

The sushi kicked off, but my momentum was shortly interrupted. One day, my sushi chef decided to walk into work, go in the kitchen, sit on the floor, and start screaming in agonizing pain. I kid you not, it was like straight out of the movies. I understood what his intentions were. Nevertheless, I called the paramedics to come take him away. His act resulted in a lawsuit, which thank GD, workers comp took care of. I eventually found a new chef and continued. I finally learned not to let my business be dependent only on one person and his talents.

After 4 years, we managed to get by and pay the bills. We had a few ups and downs. It was definitely a learning process for me. By 2012, I got a taste of the profits ready to be made in the sushi catering industry. I focused on getting more catering jobs, and partnered up with various catering companies I was getting subcontracted for the sushi services that they offered. Word spread, and people recognized the difference in quality.

We got really good at catering; therefore, I decided to finally put an end to my sushi restaurant and with it, putting an end to the headaches that came with having to deal with full time sushi chefs.

I was really criticized for my decision. My customers loved the sushi and pizza combo, but I wasn’t turning a profit. It wasn’t worth dealing with the headache and not make enough money from it. My decision was based on the fact that pizza is the most profitable business in the world. Sushi on the other hand, has a high overhead cost. It was taking a huge bite out of the profits due to the high cost of the chefs. Pizza is fast food, and sushi is not. People expected the same service that they would have received in a fancy sushi bar, but didn’t want to pay for it. I learned that the two couldn’t exist side by side. Catering profits were a lot higher, less margin of error, and eliminated the dependency on one chef. It was the antidote to most of the problems I ran into while managing the enterprise.

So much heart goes into making sushi…

I had my first shot at managing a sushi restaurant when I took over an empty section of the family owned pizza shop and introduced sushi to my customers. It was a challenge that I will never regret accepting.

With the help of GD and the support of my family, I took all that experience fused with my imagination and Created Yooshi Sooshi Catering and Event Production.

I always do my best to stay ahead. This may sound cocky to you, but whether it’s by using the freshest material, or having the best display, I have set a standard that the rest try to copy. Thanks to the almighty, I am fortunate enough to be confident in my work ethic and dedication in order to serve you with the best quality food and presentation. I have invested my blood and sweat into this business. It’s no less a part of me than my arms or legs.

It was fun a lot of fun! I had the opportunity to work with some really talented and creative chefs. I quickly learned that it’s not just about having fresh fish anymore. Sushi dining has transformed into a culture. A culture built by imagination and creativity.

I get out of bed every morning Excited to go to work and take on the next challenge and make the next customer happy. I have had the opportunity to serve in multiple red carpet events and serve sushi in various A List Super Stars.

As long as you put your head down and put in the work, the almighty will guarantee your success in all that you do….

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
During this time, I was still in engineering school. My sister had assumed full ownership of the corporation. She was forced into it due to the legal circumstances that rose up from the years that it was being operated by my brother. After all, she was the most fitted to do so having a Ph.D. In Public Administration. Being the youngest, my parents didn’t think I was mature enough to run a business. They were justified. My sister was able to fix a lot of the things that my brother had left behind broken. She was really good at the bureaucracy part of the business. My sister and I started working together hand in hand and started building the business up. We went through some renovations and finally got it to look more welcoming and fresh. I committed fully to the business, and focused on everything from marketing to menu buildup. For the first time in my life, I was proud of the pizza shop that we had built. We were stable for a few months, but were still struggling to make rent. Something was lacking and I knew what it was, but there was no way of addressing it then. I got married, but maintained my responsibilities. I was working for free at the pizza shop, and was managing to pay the bills with my sushi catering. Times were rough. My sister being the CEO, took more than half of all my profits of the sushi business.

I was the face of the company, and she was the backbone. She was responsible for the executive while I took care of customer relations. I was getting butchered by my own family on profits. Long story short, the partnership worked for a while. I negotiated minimum wage payments for my hours at the pizza shop and regained 50% of my sushi catering profits. I kept my head down, focused, and was able to turn a profit and see a rise in sales from April to September.

There was a huge difference between my sister and I. These two businesses were my everything. It was something that I was extremely passionate about. They amount of myself that I had invested in the business was too much for me to be on the sidelines and wait for her to approve every decision that needed to be dealt with. I had dropped out of engineering school to pursue and do what I loved to do. It allowed me to be creative, apply my selling and marketing talents, most important of all, to work side by side my father. I didn’t feel the same commitment from her part. I decided that a split would be the only way for us to ever be successful. The situation quickly elevated. I involved a third party to assist in the negotiations, but was met with a lot of resistance from my sister. We finally came to an agreement for us to separate and each taking their “child” with them. I took over full ownership of the Sooshi Catering, and she took over the rest of the enterprise.

Yooshi Sooshi – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
YOOSHI SOOSHI’s extensive event EXPERIENCE, will give any occasion the same style, class, and dedication to detail which has made us famous. By anticipating your needs and honoring your discriminating tastes, we will communicate your vision with inspiration. Whether it is an intimate gathering or an event on which your reputation is riding, our exceptional customer service, concierge, and award-winning chefs guarantee that your special occasion will be flawless.

From 10 to 1,000 people, we can assure that your event is a success. We can help make your event unique, elegant, and special. Our experienced event planners have an impeccable track record and years of experience. Our goal is to bring your vision to life.

We want to look good and most importantly, we want you to look even better in front of your guest. Our team will make sure that all of the complexities and details are taken care of.

At Yooshi Sooshi, we understand consistent excellence in creativity and performance is the true key to our success. That’s why so many of our clients are repeat customers.

I manage all points of the business. Whether its sales, or customer relations, or even prepping, I have and will do it. I also manage the events and the staff who will be working at each event. I also take care of the creative aspect of the business coming up with different techniques to set us apart from the rest of the competition. We specialize in a full sushi bar catering where we show up to an event and serve unlimited sushi, offering an experience like none other in the industry.

We are known for never running out of sushi. People feel like we have an endless supply of sushi. Our presentation is key for all of our events. All the food is served on custom made displays. Our fish is always fresh and we are always using 100 percent authentic ingredients. One thing that sets us apart is that we are kosher. What that means is that we do not use any shellfish or eel in our service. We have to maintain a higher grade of service due to the kosher laws that govern the Jewish religion.

We also specialize in wood fire pizza ovens, where we bring ovens to our events and serve unlimited authentic, Italian style pizzas. My proudest moments are all the times we have been hired by celebrities and some of the most iconic names. We have done red carpet events at the sunset tower hotel and Beverly Wilshire, and have also set up sushi bars at the house of a few producers and celebrities. Just the other day, I had Big Boy in the morning calling me to host a valentine’s sushi dinner for four at his house. Yep, I’m a proud daddy.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
GD is insanely crazy. I’m a religious man and believe that GD is involved in every second of my life. I have closed contracts with people that I would have never imagined would ever give me the opportunity to serve them. My proudest moments happen throughout the day, every day. Seeing how GD runs the world just leaves me in a state of awe. He is so calculated and perfect.

Proudest moments mostly are owed to past clients sending me referrals and treating me as if I was part of their own family.

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