Optimism and an Open Mind: the Pikunico Story

One of the experiences so many of us missed during the height of the pandemic was the ability to get together with colleagues over great food. I shared in May how employees at Carfax used to be sure to be in their headquarters on Fridays, for food they would cook themselves or have catered, and how COVID-19 led them to seek out DoorDash for Work, when that tradition became impossible. 

This month we are proud to expand on ways to enjoy local restaurants using DoorDash for Work, including the introduction of Marketplace Catering. Today’s story is a window into one chef’s aha moment about this solution, and how she seized the opportunity to grow her business with DoorDash.

Chef Kuniko Yagi began her life in the Gunma prefecture of Japan, which is surrounded by mountains. And as she puts it, no-one eats outside there, in the winter! But her love of bringing people together over great food, along with a realization that she didn’t want to continue a career in finance, brought her to California in 2002.

Once she arrived in Los Angeles, Kuniko found a job as a server in a noodle house and eventually found mentorship too, from Chef David Myers of the Michelin-starred Sona. It was a powerful connecting of the minds, because he encouraged her to follow her culinary ambitions in his kitchen.  

Kuniko was featured as a Top Chef on Bravo TV and later she partnered with Kabuki to launch her own fast casual Japanese fried chicken restaurant, Pikunico. Here she serves food that she believes is meant to be enjoyed outside, in the sunshine she craved so much during the cold winters of her childhood. Like its name (a playful combination of “picnic” and “Kuniko”) suggests, she offers large, family-style baskets ideal for large groups and gatherings.

I’m reminded of what Souvla owner Charles Bililies shared with us about identifying the right location, when Kuniko talks about choosing DTLA for her restaurant, namely: you’ll never be short of opinions on where to place your bet! Kuniko expands: “I love this area, but a lot of my friends said I was crazy to sign up here. I don't know why, but from somewhere inside of me, I heard a voice saying this is going to be good in the long run.”

Indeed, it’s been reported that $30billion has been invested in DTLA over the last 20 years. But the restaurant scene that blossomed as a result took a severe beating during the pandemic. So I asked Kuniko if the pandemic did in fact present her with her toughest challenges: “Oh no! Before the pandemic, we didn't have enough volume. And if you don't have those top sales you can only control labor and food. You have to have the sales, and we were not popular enough.”

The pandemic did of course change almost everything for restaurateurs. But more recently, her bet on DTLA has paid off: “Things are happening, and young people are coming to live downtown. They do need reasonable, affordable, healthy food,” she explains, “I think it's getting much better than four years ago. And yes, I did think about the west of LA, but the rent per square foot is just very different, and I didn’t want to give up on my dream, just to be there.”

As Kuniko built, we’ve been lucky enough to help her along the way, through our Kitchens Without Borders program, which we launched in 2019 and expanded to include the Los Angeles area shortly after. More recently, Kuniko has opted in to be included with our DashPass Menu Exclusive carousel, a great way to put her team’s amazing work in front of more customers looking for affordable tasty food.

As hard as Kuniko’s team works, there was one growth opportunity she hadn’t considered that they actually pushed her to adopt: catering. When you look for the earliest examples of catering in America, most searches point back to a ball in Philadelphia in 1778. The event was hosted by Caesar Cranshell, celebrating General William Howe’s return to Britain. It’s evolved plenty since then, but the core focus remains the same: to provide great food and drink at scale, for special occasions.

Kuniko picks up the story again: “It's been four years with almost all the same employees, and they are such an amazing team, really. They care about sustaining our business as if they were the owners. But more recently they’ve told me ‘We can cook more, we can produce more.’”

In fact the kitchen team already produced up to 350 rice balls for a celebrity’s occasion on one day, so they were clearly on to something: “They pushed me to work harder and show what we're capable of as a business, and told me ‘go get catering’!’ So we’ve just started with Marketplace Catering on DoorDash and the first results have been encouraging. I’m looking forward to seeing where we can take this.”

With all this hard work put into unlocking more success for Pikunico, I wondered how Kuniko relaxes. Unusually, perhaps, she cites her commute to Venice Beach: “Crossing the 405 is really important for me each day,” she says. “I let go of my problems, and the business, and I use this time to learn. Tim Ferriss’ podcast is a favorite!” And as she thinks about the legacy she wants to leave behind one day, the answer is simple: “I just want to be able to say that I made a lot of people happy with what I cooked, and what I served, and I did my best for them.”

If you’d like to know more about the amazing variety of Asian food in Los Angeles, do check out the inaugural edition of our magazine Secret Menu. It’s made for the restaurant community, with stories that aim to inspire, inform, and connect. And, even if you don’t work in the restaurant industry, you’ll discover inspiring content. As Lisa Ling writes in her introduction, each establishment featured is rich in stories of immigration, resilience, perseverance, triumph, innovation, and the preservation of culture. If you like what you find, you can sign up there for future issues. And I’ll be back next month, with the story of a Winnipeg restaurateur who, to his own own surprise, recently made our 50 Most Loved All Star Restaurants list for Canada.