How Harumi Sushi brought approachable, fresh sushi to the Arizona desert

Jessica Kim, as the owner of Harumi Sushi in Phoenix, Ariz., and a first-generation Japanese-American, knows a lot about overcoming adversity to succeed in restaurant operations. 39 years ago, Kim’s family came from Japan “with nothing in their pockets,” she said. After working hard to raise a family and make a home in Phoenix, 11 years ago, her family opened the first location of Harumi Sushi in Phoenix when, at the time, there were not many sushi options at all in the area beyond big-box stores.

Now, Kim has taken over the business and helped to grow Harumi Sushi to seven locations, more than 150 employees, and an expected $10 million in net revenue this year.

“Our first restaurant was like a small bento box, like 1,200-square feet—we really built ourselves up,” Kim said. “I came into the picture about seven years ago… Now, we moved from our original location into a 6,000-square-foot operating space in downtown Phoenix. We've come a long way.”

Whether Harumi Sushi was operating in a bento box-sized space or in its new location in Phoenix’s second tallest building, the point was to make sushi approachable for locals, who (at the time) did not have much exposure to sushi in the middle of the desert.

“We're still the same people, and we have not even increased our prices,” Kim said. “We don’t mark up the prices… We created a much more approachable dining experience in our new location. So instead of feeling crammed, you have more space…. It’s still that local Japanese kitchen that you want to go to.”

The newest locations bring new and perhaps surprising touches to the Harumi Sushi menu, with the introduction of Japanese cocktails that highlight the company’s extensive selection of Japanese whisky, as well as authentic flavors, like the Nori Old Fashioned, which uses seaweed-infused whiskey.

Even though Harumi Sushi is now an exciting emerging concept in the Phoenix area, success did not always come easy to Kim, who experienced misogyny-related adversity early on in her hospitality career.

“I think, especially in Japan, and even more so in sort of the Japanese restaurant industry, it's off-putting to many Japanese men that you have a woman in a leadership role,” she said. “All too often people underestimate me… I think today, my staff will always see me as someone that's constant, but also resolute when it comes to policy.”

Negative experiences at the start of Kim’s career led her to utilize a monthly rotating chef model for Harumi Sushi that showcase a multitude of culinary talents, and never spotlights one superstar executive chef. Instead, every chef in the kitchen gets to experience different stations.

“I got burned really badly in the beginning with these traditional Japanese chefs, which is where the whole rotational model came into play,” Kim said. “I think it’s one of the reasons why we have a very low turnover rate at my restaurant, since everyone knows that we operate on meritocracy.”

Moving forward, Kim wants to keep opening restaurants in the Phoenix area, with a flagship restaurant in the Arcadia area of the city next on the docket. Despite her success, Kim says that expansion outside of the state or moving into franchising would not be possible right now.

“I would never execute something that I can't be confident of doing 100% so at this time, the answer is no,” she said. “But let’s talk in two years.”

Contact Joanna at [email protected]