- The Strategy Files
- Posts
- How Nobu Achieved Longevity (part five)
Hey team,
LaToya here! Welcome back to The Strategy Files, the newsletter where I study the most successful people in, art, music, fashion, and culture. You apply it to your startup, agency, or side hustle. It’s a team effort!
If you like this, please forward it to someone you think would enjoy it. If you don’t, please send it to someone you can’t stand.
Here’s what you’ve missed so far:
Today’s Lessons:
Use creativity to shift perceptions
Collaborate with creatives who live outside your area of expertise
Don’t compete with the brand down the street. Compete with the biggest brands in the world.
Last week, Nobu showed us what resilience looks like. He quit the business in Peru, plateaued in Argentina, was “reduced to poverty” in Japan, and watched his restaurant in Alaska burn to the ground. Despite being met with all of these failures, he kept moving forward and finding work. His life completely changed when an old friend gave him $70,000 to start another restaurant. The friend, who was a Japanese diplomat Nobu met in Peru, didn’t want to be involved in the business at all. So he took the money and opened a restaurant in Beverly Hills.
Nobu opened Matsuhisa on Restaurant Row; the home to famous restaurants like Benihana and The Prime Rib. The space he rented came with furniture and was redecorated with the help of two friends who were creatives: one an interior designer, the other an artist. These were the perfect friends to help Nobu design his logo. He knew the effect the logo should have; Nobu wanted the logo to be as iconic as the Nike swoosh or the Apple logo. I love this; he was not concerned with competing with the restaurants down the street. Nobu wanted to compete with the biggest brands in the world.
I’m gonna repeat that, just in case you missed it.
Nobu was not concerned with competing with the restaurants down the street. Nobu wanted to compete with the biggest brands in the world.
This has to be one of the critical components to his longevity. I think this is why, despite having all of those giant failures along the way, everything worked out in the end. Big goals force you to make big moves. They force you to keep going when everybody else quits. Your competition's biggest goals should look like small steps on the way to whatever it is you want to accomplish.
So, he gave this information to his friends, and they came up with the perfect logo: outline of Nobu with a giant knife, cutting a piece of fish. The restaurant opened. Nobu did what he was trained to do: serve high-quality ingredients to customers who appreciated great food.
And that’s when he started getting media attention.
Best,
LaToya
P.s. should you and I do one more post about Nobu, or move onto Balenciaga? Reply and let me know.