Yuichi Iida
“I spent years immersed in music, culture, and food around the world. Warude is where it all landed.”
Best for restaurant operators building from a creative or non-traditional background, navigating a second location, or running an owner-operated concept.
What I've Built
Warude
Japanese Bowl & Taco Restaurant
Two locations in Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Eight years in business.
Brown Rice Family
Music
An eight-piece world roots band based in Brooklyn. Winners of WNYC's Battle of the Boroughs. Performed internationally across the US, Japan, Ivory Coast, and beyond.
About
I came to Brooklyn from Japan to study music. Years of traveling, playing, and exploring food across cultures shaped the way I think about eating, community, and where the two intersect. Traveling in Mexico, I learned that Japanese immigrants helped shape Baja California fish tacos, and Lebanese immigrants influenced al pastor. Food as cultural exchange — the same way music works. That history became the foundation of Warude. My wife Hiroko and I opened the first location in Bed-Stuy in 2018 with no restaurant experience. We learned everything as we went. When COVID hit, I needed to improvise. I built an outdoor pickup area to keep serving customers, and brought in musician friends who needed gigs — they played live, created an atmosphere that kept people coming, and helped drive sales when everything else was uncertain. It kept the business alive and made Warude feel like what it was always meant to be. Opening our Crown Heights location was the hardest chapter. A high-rise construction project right outside our door brought years of dust, noise, and lost foot traffic. We were in the red. We held on, added a dining area when the space finally opened up, and rebuilt slowly. We're back in the green now. Eight years of building something real without a traditional playbook. If you're approaching your business from a creative angle, navigating the uncertainty of a second location, or just trying to survive something completely outside your control — I've done all of it.
Examples of decisions Yuichi can help you work through
Second location and expansion
- Evaluating whether to open a second location
- Managing two locations as an owner-operator
- Surviving construction or disruption near your business
Brand and community
- Building community around a concept
- Using events and programming to drive traffic
- Curating product and partnerships
Operations without a playbook
- Running every role as a small team
- Adapting during crisis or external disruption
- Menu and concept development
Tell us what you're working through and we'll confirm Yuichi is the right fit.
Work with Yuichi
Decision Session
$15060 minutes
A focused 60-minute conversation around one decision, question, or operating situation.
Tell us what you're working through and we'll confirm availability.
Decision Sprint
$750Three sessions over 4 to 6 weeks
Yuichi reviews your materials between sessions, sends a written recap after each, and closes with a decision memo.
Most owners book this after a first session.
If your first session is not useful, we refund the entire sprint.
Booked a session in the last 7 days? It counts as session one and its full price is credited.
Sessions are advisory. Implementation or ongoing support is scoped separately.
Project or Fractional
For hands-on work beyond the session, recurring guidance, or an ongoing operating role.
Additional sessions can be booked as needed.