By Daniel Nash
The Courier-Herald
The local founder of Desert Sun Tanning Salons is venturing into a different business arena: restaurants.
Zato Grill will open Tuesday near the Regal Tall Firs theater along state Route 410 East in Bonney Lake. The name derives from the Japanese legend of Zatoitchi, a blind samurai who dispensed justice with his cane. It is an appropriate moniker for the efforts of a first-time restaurateur who hopes to exploit his own previous business experience and the direct experience of others.
Maximo Ansola III founded Desert Sun in 2000, just three years after earning his bachelor’s degree in business management. He built the company into a franchise and eventually sold it to Dallas-based Palm Beach Tanning in late 2006.
His company, Ansola Investments, acts as parent to a business consulting firm and real estate investment company. But during the last six months Ansola has shifted his focus almost entirely to his newest venture.
Ansola created a new company, Restaurant Endeavors DBA Zato Grill, to manage his restaurant. Ruby Nakao is the manager.
“I’ve been working this concept in my head for the past 10 years,” Ansola said. “For the past 15 years, I would always go into a restaurant and pick them apart, thinking about what I would do differently and what I could do better.”
The result of that inner tinkering is a restaurant vision that Ansola hopes sets itself apart from other suburban restaurants by being reminiscent of fashionable urban dining. The model depends heavily on unique takes on traditional foods and atmosphere created by low lighting, new music and nice furniture.
Ansola enters an industry fraught with risk. An oft-quoted statistic in articles intended to ward off less serious restaurateurs is that 10 to 15 percent of restaurants are forced to close each year, most of which have been open fewer than three years.
Some factors are promising for Zato. The most recent figures provided by the National Restaurant Association show that the restaurant’s share of food dollars has risen to 48 percent, from 25 percent in 1955. And the recession economy hasn’t caused a widespread decline in eating out, but rather a gravitation of customers toward restaurants that offer good values.
The fact that SR 410 has seen the opening of several other restaurants – including Hopjack’s, Mr. Jalapeno’s and Sonic – in the last year could either be taken as a sign of a restaurant boom or a market oversaturated by experienced competitors.
To make up for his lack of hands-on experience, Ansola partnered with Restaurant Group Inc., a restaurant consulting firm out of Kirkland, to ensure Zato’s smooth opening. Restaurant Group has helped open more than 500 restaurants. Their assistance has allowed Ansola to do things like connect with reasonable wholesalers, making retail food prices less expensive, he said.
“Their help has been invaluable getting the restaurant open,” Ansola said. “It’s as if I’m going into this project with a lifetime of experience. Mistakes I might have made in the first six to 12 months of opening with payroll or food prices, won’t happen now because I have the benefit of their expertise.”
No bank or lending institution would provide Ansola with a loan for his start-up, citing his inexperience with restaurants. Without a loan, Ansola funded the entire $1.5 million project out of pocket.
It was worth it to leave a legacy, he said. Ansola has a 16-month-old son whom he would like to pass the business onto one day.
“What I would like to teach my son, and anyone else going into business, is probably that you should always do what you say and say what you are going to do,” he said. “That kind of forthrightness and honesty makes everything that much easier for all parties involved.”
The physical space of the restaurant took shape between October and this month. The blue walls were painted a deep red and yellow, high-backed booths were brought in and more than 20 plasma screen televisions, which will show sporting events, were mounted on the walls. The bar will be stacked 10 feet high, close to the outdoor seating area. Outdoor seating may present the biggest challenge to Zato’s intended atmosphere because, if it succeeds in its urban oasis vision, it will be one of the nicest parts of an otherwise drab surrounding area.
But Ansola is confident, he said, and part of the idea is to set the restaurant apart from other gathering spaces in the community, while creating a community connection. During this weekend’s invitation-only mock opening, donations will be accepted for East Pierce Fire and Rescue and children’s charity Lions 4 Kids. The grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony will be at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Ansola already has plans to expand. Two more locations are in the works for Gig Harbor and Issaquah, and space on the company Web site is already designated for future restaurants in Oregon and California. Ansola will retain ownership of the original location, with future locations either licensed or franchised.
Zato Grill is at 20609 state Route 410 East. To contact management, call 253-288-9286 or fill out the form on the Web site, www.zatogrill.com.
