Cooking is a part of everyday life. The company cafeteria serves peaceful, safe meals. An interview with Naoki Iino, Executive Chef at MONOSUS Food Research Institute (Part 2)

Hello, my name is Sugimoto and I am a writer living in Kyoto.
Next up, we bring you an interview with MONOSUS Shokken's Executive Chef, Iino Naoki.

In the first part , we hear how Iino, who had never even held a knife before at the age of 18, decided to enter the world of cooking, and how he became head chef at the age of 24. In the second part, we hear about Iino's determination and responsibility as a chef, his role as a head chef, and his current and future plans for his work at Monosus.

Iino's back in the main visual photo looks cool.
I hope you will burn this image into your mind before continuing reading.

The determination and responsibility of a chef

Sugimoto : Why did you decide to quit Royal Marriott even though you had been demonstrating your skills as a chef?

Iino : I opened about four restaurants, and in the end I was the manager and head chef. If you have the title of manager, you can say what you want to your superiors. At a meeting of restaurant managers and head chefs, someone said to me, "This restaurant is currently in the red, but does anyone want to take it over?" So I raised my hand and said, "I'll go. There's no one else who can do it, right?"

Sugimoto is really cool.

Iino: It was a restaurant that anyone could enter, like Kudan Shokudo, and we also had a bar at night. I had just gotten married, and it was so tough that my wife told me to quit because she said I'd lost weight after getting married. But we made a profit in the second year, enough to make up for half of the first year's deficit. It just so happened that it was a time when Marriott withdrew and Royal's influence was becoming stronger, and the new president told me, "I'm not going to let you do things your own way anymore," so I quit.

Sugimoto: What do you mean by "do whatever you want"?

Iino : When I first became head chef, the company told me to make it exactly according to the recipe, which really scolded me. But if I made it exactly according to the recipe and it tasted bad, the customers would come and complain to me, right? It's not right to say, "Well, the menu was decided by the executive chef, so if you have any complaints, please tell the executive chef." In that case, I think it's normal to make something that I think tastes good. "If I think it tastes good according to the recipe, I'll make it exactly like that, and if I think it doesn't taste good, I'll do it my way," and we've been arguing about it for a long time. It's better to apologize for your own taste than to be scolded for following the company's recipe and then apologize. But the company can't tolerate that.

Sugimoto : So you've lived your life going with the flow.

Iino : I've always decided that the price of doing things my own way is to quit if I fail. Even at Kudan Shokudo, I do things my own way without even listening to what Arai-san says. If this doesn't improve my reputation, I'll think that I'm not good enough, and I'm ready to quit at any time.

"An impactful man" I met during store manager training

Sugimoto: What did you do after you left Royal Marriott?

Iino : I became a head chef at the age of 24, so I wanted to realize what it felt like to be at the bottom again, and so I joined a traditional Japanese restaurant and said, "Let me start from the bottom." Because I can always become the top.

Sugimoto: "You can always be the top." Another cool line!

IinoAfter I left there, a former colleague introduced me to a major contract service. He said, "With this track record, we definitely want you to come," so I joined the company, and about six months later, I attended a store manager training session, and Arai was there. With that face, he made an impact. After that, when Arai started the Google Japan Food Team's employee cafeteria, he was pulling strings behind the scenes to make me the head chef. I thought it would be a long commute to work in Roppongi, so I went there, and he said, "Oh, Arai?" That was how we met.

MONOSUS Food Research Business Development Director Shigeta Arai

Sugimoto : Why did Arai-san have his eye on Iino-san?

Iino : Around my third year, I became the head chef of the company cafeteria, which serves 3,000 meals a day. The head chef who runs the largest company cafeteria in the company stands out, doesn't he? Maybe that's why. I may have had a proper discussion with him, but I don't remember how it happened (laughs).

At Google, there were chefs for Japanese, Western, and Chinese cuisine, and they were all older than me. There was no one to manage the team, so I said, "You guys can do what you like, but I'll manage everything," and I did everything from ordering to preparation. From breakfast to dinner, the commute was an hour and a half each way... I often tell Mr. Arai, but it was the hardest time I've ever had in this world.

Is it fun to work with Arai Sugimoto?

Iino : It's the same as my original starting point. Mr. Arai is strict and gives me pressure after leaving things to me, so it's very easy for me to work with him. I know that he'll say all sorts of things if I don't get results, so it suits my style to not get told off. Basically, I want to be left alone because I'll get results.

Sugimoto: You also work with me on nonpi.

Iino : At the time, nonpi was a catering company, so I wasn't interested, but about a year after Arai moved there, he said, "I got a company cafeteria at nonpi," so I moved there. Monosus wouldn't have come if it weren't for the Kudan Shokudo. Basically, I think we work together because the projects that Arai brings suit me.

Sugimoto : Monosus is the first company for you to work at that has people who aren't chefs.

One day at Izakaya Monosasu. Iino enjoying a conversation with the other members.

Izakaya Monosasu is held once a month as Monosasu's "evening company dining." It was planned by a member who wanted to "increase opportunities for communication between members," and started in the summer of 2023. Although Iino is not necessarily the chef, it has become a regular sight to see Iino come over and cook in the kitchen after work at Kudan Shokudo.

Iino : It's a very refreshing experience because I've always worked in a workplace with only chefs. When I do "Izakaya Monosasu", I get to talk to people from completely different fields, so it's really fun. I want to give back to Monosasu. When I joined Monosasu, I was still getting paid even though the work hadn't started yet. When I started Kudan Shokudo, I was determined to make it a place that Monosasu members could be proud of. If I cook at the sports festival or Izakaya Monosasu, it's a way to give back and I can enjoy it too.

As a head chef, he is conscious of "working hardest"

Sugimoto: How do you split your time between work and play in your daily work?

Iino: Basically, I don't want to work on Mondays after the holidays, so I go home early. I stay two days a week, either Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays, and go home early on Fridays. That hasn't changed at all since I became head chef. If I'm at a restaurant that's open late, I'll stay all day, but if I'm at a restaurant that only serves lunch, I've decided to work until 7 or 8 p.m. twice a week, and then leave at 5 p.m. I stay two days a week so that my younger children can go home early.

Sugimoto: What do you pay particular attention to when taking on a leadership role as head chef?

Iino : I work the hardest. I thought that if I could show that "that person is the one who works the hardest," they would forgive me (laughs). My motto is that the most important thing is the customer, then the employees, and then myself. The customers have to be satisfied, but the employees have to be satisfied, so I create an environment that makes them satisfied. It's a tough job, so I think everyone has their tough parts, but it's better to always show that "I'm the one who does the hardest work." That's the only thing I'm conscious of.

HS: Is there anything you teach the people you work with, such as technical matters?

Iino : None of us are new, so it's just a matter of what we want to learn. If someone asks me, "How do you make this?" I'll tell them, but when it comes to taste, it's just a matter of feeling. I always think that it's something that can't be taught.

Sugimoto: Some chefs say they don't want to cook outside of work, but do you cook at home, Iino-san?

Iino : I don't eat at home at night because I just sleep during the weekdays. On weekends, I cook for myself. When I got married, I said, "I don't need dinner on weekdays," so my wife was excited to cook at least on weekends. But I think it's better for me to cook because I can finish quickly and make what I want to eat. At first, my wife resisted, but after we had children, she seemed to realize that it was easier.

At the Monosus Sports Day held in the fall, children can prepare meals for everyone and also take part in the competitions!

Cooking is a part of everyday life, but peace and quiet are the most important thing in company cafeterias

Sugimoto : How do you decide on the menu?

Iino: I've been the head chef of about 10 restaurants so far, but I leave all my recipes behind. When I open a new restaurant, I don't know what will be served, so I make a provisional menu and change it while watching the customers' reactions. I really do it by feel. If I put too much of my own feelings into it and think, "I want to serve this kind of food," it won't come out, so I seal it away.

Sugimoto: You've cooked a variety of dishes, from meals for your own family to meals for 3,000 people. What does cooking mean to you?

Iino: I guess that's just everyday life.

Sugimoto: When do you feel like your work is done?

Iino : Hmm, I guess it's peace and tranquility (laughs). There are times when a lot of customers come and I feel satisfied after doing everything I can at the time, but if I can't serve them smoothly, I sometimes think, "I'm not doing a good job." For me, peace and tranquility is when we can serve all the items fresh without running out, when customers can eat without having to wait in line, and when everyone says the food is delicious.

Sugimoto :That may be the most important thing in a place like a company cafeteria that provides daily meals. Is there anything you want to do when you retire from this job someday? For example, opening your own restaurant.

At the Kamiyama Town School Lunch Center. Apparently the taste has improved dramatically since they started cutting all the vegetables by hand.

Iino : No, I want to work at a school lunch center. In short, the only school lunch center I have regrets about is the one in Kamiyama. The people working there are not chefs, so they can't communicate by feel, so I had to clearly communicate the amounts and cooking times and hand them over. For the first time in my life, I read the recipes carefully and taught them "how to make it delicious with these seasonings and these amounts" without adding my own color. I guess it was the first time I killed myself.

There were many things I wanted to change, but I couldn't fit in and I didn't finish them. In Kamiyama, it's easy because it's about 200 meals, and I think I can reform it if I work hard for about 5 years. Originally, I wanted to run a children's cafeteria in the town when I was about 60 years old. But then I came across the school lunch center. I think that's my goal now.

Sugimoto : If you think you can change something, you can't just ignore it.

Iino : That's right. I've always been going against the company's ways and trying to change them. I'll be there until I'm 60, and then my son will be 20, so I think that's just right. I don't know. I don't look at the past, but I don't look at the future either.

Sugimoto: Iino-san, who lives in the present, kept giving great quotes until the very end! I think this article will help me gain more fans of Iino-san. Thank you very much.

I felt like I got to hear a lot of the essence of Iino-san, who always has a smile on his face and talks in a relaxed manner. Manabe-san, who seemed to be watching the interview from a distance, called out to me, "Iino-san, you were singing!" It was a really good song.

"Eating" is a very everyday thing, but it is also an act that makes a day special. I think the peaceful and safe meal time that Iino-san creates is something special that blends into everyday life and gently supports someone. Please look forward to future developments at MONOSUS Shokken, where Iino-san serves as executive chef (led by Arai-san, who puts pressure on Iino-san)!