While I was living the hospital life in style (?), I spent my days reading books and watching TV from my hospital bed.
I was stuck in a helpless limbo, feeling both pathetic for being away from the field and anxious, with nothing I could do about it.
Back then, the remaining staff were swamped trying to cover for me.
It’s strange how things always get busier when you’re not there—we were so short-handed we could have used an extra pair of hands.
Prep work, shopping, front of house, kitchen.
Everyone was sweating buckets, desperately keeping the shop running.
Lying in that hospital bed, I blamed myself, thinking, “I’m such a burden…” Yet at the same time, I was so deeply saved by my teammates’ presence.
That feeling of gratitude from back then, I will never, ever forget it.
Without the expense of job listings, my naive wife thought simply:
“If I go to the employment office, there’ll be lots of people looking for work. Why not just ask them?”
So she went to the Hello Work office in Ikebukuro and started calling out to the people waiting in line, “Got any jobs?”…
Naturally, the staff caught us, and I got a thorough scolding: “Hey, what the hell are you doing?!”
“Don’t you ever come back here!” they yelled. My wife’s face turned bright red, and all she could do was desperately apologize, “I’m so sorry~!”
Thanks to everyone’s hard work, by the time I was discharged from the hospital, customer traffic had gradually stabilized.
However, back then, Kuro 5 didn’t have air conditioning (and of course, we couldn’t afford to buy one), and the timing was right after the rainy season ended…
The inside of the shop was like a sauna.
Customers complained, “This place is way too hot!” and all we could do was bow our heads and say, “We’re truly sorry…”
Back then, we didn’t have air conditioning, so it was far from a comfortable environment for our customers.
So what we prepared were folding fans bought at a dollar store and frozen hand towels.
We handed these out to customers, asking them to “please try to cool off a little.”
Of course, even then, many customers couldn’t stand it and left in anger.
I truly believe it was unbearably hot. I sincerely want to tell our customers from that time, “I’m truly sorry.”
Running a business is really tough…
Even customers who finally started coming in can’t stand the heat and leave.
The meat is definitely top quality, and I’ve kept prices as low as possible.
I even took out a loan to install air conditioning to make it more comfortable.
“How can I get them to say it’s even tastier…”
I ask myself this over and over, yet days go by without an answer.
Then, I caught sight of a customer scorching their plump offal on the grill.
“What a waste! You can’t cook it like that!”
Before I knew it, I couldn’t hold back and called out to them.
Wagyu Yakiniku Kuro5
IKEBUKURO Main Restrant
1F Shima 100 building ,2-46-3, Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku , Tokyo 171-0014
https://en.kuro5.net/restaurant/honten
Wagyu Yakiniku Kuro5
IKEBUKURO East Exit Restrant
2F Need Building, 1-42-16 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0013
https://en.kuro5.net/restaurant/higashiguchi
Wagyu Yakiniku KURO5
Kabukicho
1F Sankei Building, 2-21-4 Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
https://en.kuro5.net/restaurant/kabukicho
Official Instagram: @kuro5yakiniku
