Tonny Soesanto is the relentlessly optimistic President of Kikka Sushi. Tonny’s sushi empire started 30 years ago with just a few employees. The company is now 2,000 employees and supplies a significant amount of sushi to Whole Foods and other top grocery stores across the United States. Tonny is an extremely happy person. He was laughing and smiling throughout my visit to Kikka HQ in LA. This episode will teach you a lot about optimizing for happiness and how to run a business.

The takeaway from this episode is that there’s always a way when you work hard with persistence and optimism. Every time Tonny encounters a problem or an opportunity, he finds a way to make it happen. His strategy is to say yes first and figure out execution second. This strategy led to Kikka Sushi becoming one of the first to-go sushi suppliers in grocery and to being one of the first to use brown rice in sushi. Kikka’s yes first approach is why they are still growing today. When competitors said no and died, Tonny said yes and thrived.

 

Quotes from the episode

“I’m very persistent, I don’t want to lose” - Tonny Soesanto

“It’s not the money that I want, it’s the challenge” - Tonny Soesanto

“I learn from my experience in life so the best you can do is teach your children or my employees to do the same...You need to view your life as glass half full, never half empty.” - Tonny Soesanto

“I sleep on a stainless steel table but that’s fun” - Tonny Soesanto

Business contact Info

http://www.kikkasushi.com/

431 S. Isis Avenue

Inglewood, California 90301

(310) 410-1151

Email us at [email protected]