Fishing Restaurant ZAUO

Mr. Kazuhisa Takahashi, President of Harbor House Cooperation (right) and Mr. Takuya Takahashi, Vice President of above-mentioned company (left). 

“It’s tasty!” “It’s fun!” The place where you can hear such comments from customers is “Fishing Restaurant ZAUO”.

Zauo offers fresh seafood dishes made from customer’s catch, which is promptly brought to the kitchen to be cooked by the chef.

Every time a customer caught a fish, other customers get so excited. Savoring your fresh catch with your family of friends. Those things represent the joy to hold the emotion in common, the warmth to share the meal with somebody and the precious experience to take a life of a living creature.

With such a variety of thoughts, Zauo started “Zauo Blog” as an information media platform. On the occasion of launching the blog, please enjoy a special talk by Mr. Kazuhisa Takahashi, President of Harbor House Cooperation operating Zauo and Mr. Takuya Takahashi, Vice President of above-mentioned company.

Interviewer (hereafter mentioned as “I”): You are brothers, aren’t you? Do both of you have differences in character and business role?

President, Kazuhisa Takahashi (hereafter mentioned as “Kazuhisa”): Yes, I am the elder brother with 4 years apart. I’d rather take an action after deep consideration. However, my younger brother moves on quickly after having made a decision. That’s why those around him have been always feeling uneasy from his childhood time. Although our characters are extremely different like this, when it comes to business, we have the same idea.

We are often surprised to find we had been thinking about the same issue such as business concept/idea during the exact same period. Our business role differs between the responsible area such as Fukuoka and Tokyo. We are taking action in each field after having expressed each opinion.

I: I heard that “Zauo Blog” was suggested by your younger brother, Takuya.

Vice President, Takuya Takahashi (hereafter mentioned as “Takuya”): Yes, it was suggested at just the time when I started to hope strongly to let people know more about Zauo. Thanks to the media such as TV or word of mouth, the degree of recognition about Zauo is getting higher. However, the deep essential part of Zauo without any filtering should be understood more by our staff, not to mention our customers. For example, we wanted to dispatch information directly which usually never surfaces, such as our own idea and each meaning of the event in our restaurants. Then, we decided to start the blog as one of our media tools.

Kazuhisa: We wish “Zauo Blog” could handle the full articles which contribute to the higher attention of people to the food featuring fish mainly, since once people understood the origin of name, character and producer’s thoughts, they would have more interest in the food and enjoy the valuable meal time. Furthermore, Customers can savor their own catch at Zauo. They can eat the fish, which was alive a little while back. To eat means to take a life. Zauo can offer an opportunity to experience that meaning realistically and we hope we could convey that feeling.

I: You referred to the word “Experience”. I understood Zauo stressed the importance of value obtained from the experience. Can you both tell me your episodes or thoughts, such as what you could obtain from the experience or the importance of experience?

Takuya: Although it should be something my feeling fostered in my daily life rather than my experience, dining equals a happy family circle for me. To communicate while dining pleasantly with three generations including our grandparents, our parents and ourselves, had been a natural scene from my childhood time. As I have such a warm and pleasant experience and thoughts as my starting point of my food business, I wish Zauo could be a place to provide customer pleasant experience like at home. This is my thought to operate and manage our restaurants.

Kazuhisa: I hope people, especially children, could substantially learn more about the dignity of life. No fish or meat can exist as a slice cut from out of nowhere. They are fowl or pig.

No matter how much we tell children, “Please don’t treat food without respect” or “You are taking a life”, they cannot understand clearly while gazing at and eating a slice of fish or meat. It’s no wonder.

Then, “Zauo” offers customers the opportunity to catch fish by themselves to eat. They are happy when they catch them. Surroundings are also happy and excited. In such a pleasant mood, the fish they caught is brought to their table after being cooked. Whereupon, their expressions turn to be solemn a little bit. Now, the words mentioned before; “Please don’t treat food without respect” is not needed any more. They are experiencing the dignity of life at that time. We are allowed to take a life of a creature. Zauo is a place to let them feel that realistically. Including such a part, we are more than happy to hear our customers feel that Zauo is really nice.

[ Epilogue]

At the same time I asked a question, they started the cross talk with a perfect combination representing “This is brothers!” Still, their attitude sometimes in choosing the word seriously showed the deep consideration and affection for Zauo. In the latter part, another interesting story based on their experience will be featured, such as “How Zauo’s concept can be delivered to the customer” and “What is the future direction of Zauo”.