Hapa Ramen is dead. Maybe. Probably.
Umm … not totally sure yet, to be honest, for both parties involved have conflicting stories, but here’s what we know (with a new statement from the owners at the end):
Inside Scoop broke the news on Saturday that Richie Nakano, creator and chef of Hapa Ramen, was fired from the business he first built from a folding table on the streets in 2010. Turns out he had sold the brand to tech millionaire Owen Van Natta (who has worked at Zynga, Facebook, and MySpace) in order to get a Mission District restaurant open in November 2014, and Van Natta was frustrated that the business has not become profitable in four months.
Hapa’s director of operations Deborah Blum (who was appointed by Van Natta) told Inside Scoop that the restaurant would still serve the same menu for a “short period of time” and would make a comeback with a “new personality.” The short period of time turned out to be just Saturday night and the restaurant has been closed since then, though there are rumblings that there has been some food testing activity in the kitchen since then.
Scoop followed up with a post Monday reporting that a voicemail message on the restaurant’s line says that it will be closed “indefinitely.” But Nakano tells The Bold Italic that Hapa Ramen is dead and that about 35 employees, including servers, cooks, and bartenders, lost their jobs.
Nakano tells The Bold Italic that Hapa Ramen is dead and that about 35 employees, including servers, cooks, and bartenders, lost their jobs.
“I think [the owners] thought that they could just carry on with the business, brand, and [Ferry Plaza] farmers market,” Nakano says. “Then when the story broke they ultimately decided to just close it down completely. The staff was pretty upset so they worked one last night together, toasted to Hapa, and that was that.” Note: the owners claim the restaurant has not been shut down but rather is learning towards a new concept and that no one has been fired. See update below.
“From about a month in there, there would be these emails and conversations about how if the restaurant didn’t become profitable quickly that they would just shut it down,” he continues. “The message was being sent so often I even had a sit down where I said, ‘Okay, we get it, but can you please stop saying that all the time because it’s making for a miserable work environment?’ They would talk about making ‘simpler, less labor intensive dishes.’ On top of that Deb [Blum] is vegan, so she would push that agenda regularly as well.”
Hapa Ramen, a restaurant that had foie gras bao on the menu, seems like an uneasy place for a vegan director of operations. Nakano says that Blum was very “disconnected” from the business in general and that most of the tension happened online.
“From about a month in there, there would be these emails and conversations about how if the restaurant didn’t become profitable quickly that they would just shut it down. The message was being sent so often I even had a sit down where I said, ‘Okay, we get it, but can you please stop saying that all the time because it’s making for a miserable work environment?’ They would talk about making ‘simpler, less labor intensive dishes.’”
Nakano is grateful for the support he is receiving in the local restaurant world in trying to find other potential jobs for the staff. When he tweeted asking for people to share job opportunities, he got several kind and promising leads for the employees, some in the same neighborhood in the Mission.
SFist followed Inside Scoop’s story on Saturday with a tabloid-like post (“Did Chef Richie Nakano’s Twitter Vendetta Against Michael Bauer Get Him Fired From Hapa Ramen?”) speculating that Bauer’s recent review of Hapa Ramen triggered a social media tirade from Nakano and that led to his termination. It’s a claim that both sides refute. It wasn’t much of a vendetta, to be real, and Bauer’s supposedly controversial review of Hapa Ramen isn’t that bad.
Nakano’s social media persona has been unwavering for a good seven years, ever since he launched @linecook while employed as a line cook at Nopa. Incisive, snarky, and occasionally faux thugged out, it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it also has its loyal followers. It seems strange that someone would buy a brand with a very clear identity, both on and off the plate, and appear not to be in support of the concept after only four months in business.
It also seems unbelievable that Nakano would sell his whole brand and make himself vulnerable to being fired from it. But after a few years of frustrating obstacles in trying to do it himself, he says the timing of his introduction to Van Natta was right because he just wanted to get a restaurant open.
When asked why he thinks someone would buy a brand if they don’t appear to support its whole ethos, Nakano says, “I have no idea. It’s so bizarre. But to be fair, as much as it appears that they didn’t know who they were going into business with, neither did I. I’ll never make that mistake again.”
What sort of business can claim profitability in 120 days, but especially a restaurant? This story has been raging online since Saturday, so the official statement from the owner of Hapa Ramen is a long time coming.
In the meantime, Nakano — still armed with his talent and ideas — is saying eff it and going somewhere tropical to regroup, adding, “I’ll be back.”
Update: Deborah Blum, Director of Operations and Owen Van Natta, Owner, Hapa, offered The Bold Italic a statement that “Richie Nakano was an employee, not an owner. He sold his ownership and the Hapa brand in July 2014 for $20,000 and was hired to the executive chef position with above-market salary and full health benefits. As part of the terms, Nakano accepted certain responsibilities as executive chef and signed an employment agreement that required him to efficiently manage food and labor costs. Unfortunately, those costs were consistently and significantly over budget (twice the industry standard).”
They go on to say that Nakano was given multiple chances to find a solution to this issue but that this didn’t happen. “Nakano was not expected to make Hapa profitable in the course of four months’ time; the critical issue is that he refused to cooperate with management to acknowledge and remedy financial concerns and work with stakeholders to put Hapa on track toward profitability.”
They add that Nakano was not fired. “He presented a list of demands and told the owners that if they did not agree to these conditions, he would quit,” they said. “His proposed terms conflicted with the employment agreement he signed and were unworkable, and the parties agreed to a mutual separation.” It’s worth noting that when showed this statement, Nakano said he has an email saying he no longer works at Hapa for “lackluster performance.” “So I’m pretty sure I was fired,” he says.
The owners also claim that the rest of Hapa’s staff wasn’t fired, and that all but two of the line cooks are still there. “Today they’re doing prep work for a tasting related to the concept that will replace Hapa. The management also extended an offer of income to Hapa’s top servers and the kitchen staff to support them during the restaurant’s period of closure.”
Finally, they offer a statement of goodwill towards Nakano. “We believe that Richie Nakano is incredibly talented and our intent was to partner with Richie to operate a viable and successful restaurant business. We sincerely wish him the very best.”
Photo of Nakano from “What Chefs Eat at the End of the Night”
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