Today we’d like to introduce you to Sae.
Hi Sae, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My love for maid cafes began when I first visited traditional maid cafes while studying abroad in Japan. Since then, I’ve always felt a sense of ‘coming home’ whenever I return to a maid cafe during my visits to Japan. This love soon grew into a passion as I wanted to bring the maid cafe experience of ‘coming home’ to Los Angeles. My co-founder, Maid Mei, and I established a college club-based maid cafe named ZotCon Maid Cafe. Running ZotCon Maid Cafe taught us invaluable lessons that built the foundations for our current operating procedures, such as our etiquette, event programming, and many more. After graduating from university, we devoted ourselves to manifesting our passion by starting a permanent brick-and-mortar maid cafe. Most maid cafes at the time were pop-ups/convention-based and previous attempts for a permanent location unfortunately did not last. We sought to learn from past and current standing maid cafes to see what worked, what did not, and how we could improve the maid cafe experience. Following 2 years of extensive market research, Asayoru Maid Cafe was born. However, we did not start with a permanent location right away. Our beginnings started at car meets and other small pop-ups to advertise our cafe. Eventually, we were able to secure a location in East LA. This initial location allowed us to tackle the challenges of starting a new business while refining our operations. Since then, we have gained even more knowledge and confidence in our ability to provide guests with a high-quality maid cafe experience that not only offers great service but also great dining. We can’t wait to show you all of our growth and improvements at our upcoming new location in Monterey Park, CA (just 11 minutes from LA)!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Although I had some experience running a small college maid cafe club, starting my first real business in a niche industry presented several challenges. It required me to learn the legal, logistical, and financial sides of owning a business, along with other critical areas such as marketing, networking. Apart from this huge learning curve, I was trying to balance gaining acceptance as a niche business in America while also maintaining some authenticity to traditional Japanese maid cafes. One significant issue we encountered was the misconceptions about maid cafes in the U.S. fueled by the sexual portrayal of maids in the media. These misconceptions initially made it difficult for us to find a retail space for opening as many landlords questioned our legitimacy and assumed we were not a family-friendly establishment. Fortunately, we were able to secure our first location because we previously collaborated with them for pop-up events. After 2 years in operation, we eventually earned enough legitimacy as a business so that we are able to open up our own standalone location.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Asayoru is a women-owned business with a strong focus on protecting our workers. We ensure our maids are compensated for their contribution to the cafe, including receiving commissions for performing and reimbursement for gas and parking. We are one of the first U.S. maid cafes to give our employees consistent wages. Most maid cafes are volunteers only, but we want being a maid to have potential as an actual job in the U.S.
We are first and foremost fans of maid cafes ourselves! Asayoru is super proud to be one of the major players promoting J-idol and maid culture in the LA scene. We helped foster wotagei culture in the local audience, market chekis (decorated polaroids) as merchandise, and popularize new phrases and trends directly imported from Japanese fan circles. With our take on maid cafes, we hope to bring the feeling of ‘coming home’ to our guests. We try to provide a palatable approach to the Akihabara maid cafe experience by melding it with American culture. For example, we mainly speak English to guests while utilizing a few key Japanese phrases that have been integral to the identity of many Japanese maid cafes when greeting guests and performing spells like ‘Moe Moe Kyun’ in an effort to slowly introduce maid cafes to those that are new to the culture. Additionally, we kept core maid cafe elements such as plate decorating, magical spells, and taking chekis. But most importantly, we encourage our maids to remain authentic to themselves. Our staff incorporates their own personalities and interests into the way they serve as maids, such as creating their own maid origin story, making their own renditions of spells, and having running jokes with guests. Our diverse cast of maids is what sets us apart—today, your maid could be a tarot reader, and tomorrow, a metal-singing swan! Since its birth, Asayoru has nurtured a strong, dedicated community of people who not only share the same passion for maid cafes but also see Asayoru as a second home.
What are your plans for the future?
In the coming years, we hope to host more pop-up dining experiences at conventions so we can meet more Masters and Princesses and better share Moe Culture! We also hope to collaborate with local and international brands. Personally, a longtime dream of mine is to collaborate with my number one inspiration, At Home Maid Cafe in Japan! Our new location gives us a lot more freedom to bring our maid cafe ideas to life – we will have new furniture, props, and interactive options to enhance the world-building experience. Inspired by Disney, we are committed to paying more attention to the smaller details to create a space that can transform with each event to make guests feel like they stepped into a new world!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.asayorumaidcafe.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asayorucafe
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asayorucafe
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/asayorucafe
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@asayorucafe
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/asayoru-maid-cafe-arcadia-2
- SoundCloud: https://open.spotify.com/artist/74NXOLcU5VINW6YAP68wg3
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@asayorucafe
Image Credits
@mint.chocolate.studios
@animertphoto
@ssalazar.media
@midnightaerie
