Bokumo Renovation

February 15, 2022

During the closure, we have been slowly renovating the interior of Bokumo. Here is the main reason why we decided to renovate the interior.

I think that when I look back on my life, I will probably split it into "pre-COVID" and "post-COVID." I feel that big changes are happening right now.

However, even in the midst of this change, we are planning to continue running the restaurant business that we did before COVID-19, even after COVID-19.

My own values have changed quite a bit in the past two years, and the world has also changed in many ways since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. And I think it will continue to change even more.

In that case, restaurants must also keep an eye on future directions and adapt their functions to accommodate the post-COVID era.

A functional change means changing the interior.

However, before we start renovating, we need to review what our intentions were when we originally designed the interior of Bokumo.

Bokumo opened in 2009, and this year marks its 13th year.

Until then, I had never even worked part-time at a restaurant, but after I turned 30, I suddenly had the idea and created Bokumo purely on impulse.

At the time, there were quite a few guidebooks on how to open a restaurant, so I read every single one of them. I think I read about 100 books.

I also had the experience of working part-time at a restaurant in Tokyo.

After returning to Nagoya, I went to a real estate agency for over six months, and finally decided on Yabacho as the location. It was all just a guess.

Naturally, I had no track record, skills, or money. I knew nothing about the food and beverage industry apart from what was in the books.

However, I was a little too adamant in my belief that "it can't be the same as other stores."

When I was making radio programs, I was determined not to make a program that was just like any other. That was quite selfish of me.

Radio programs are bound by restrictions on time, song selection, and talk, but restaurants have much more freedom. As long as you get permission from the health center and fire department, you can do whatever you want. You can throw in any idea you want.

What I wanted to create was a store that was based on my own ideas, a store that was needed but didn't exist yet .

Before opening, I traveled around New York with my chef for about a week. We ate, walked, ate, walked, and repeated the same thing. We went to many restaurants. Bagels in the morning, pizza at lunch, steak at night, and cheesecake at midnight. I gained experience and fat.

The most memorable places were a restaurant on Broadway where aspiring actors sang while serving food, and a restaurant where stand-up comedians made customers laugh while they ate.

Both were great fun. I thought it was really cool that a restaurant could offer more than just food and drinks.

Until now, we had only been able to draw a two-dimensional graph of a "store appearance graph," with the x-axis representing tastiness and the y-axis representing price . However, by adding the z-axis representing fun , the graph suddenly felt three-dimensional.

This is how the concept was born: "Basically a restaurant serving wine, beer and Western food, with the occasional interesting event thrown in."

And the interior of this slightly unusual store is...

Plain is no good. Clutter is good. I thought it needed to have the scent of something interesting happening, a sort of "spatial power." I talked to the designer about this, and the current Bokumo was born.

(Before renovation) Bokumo

It's been 12 and a half years since then. What happened to Bokumo?

I've done a lot of different events. For the past five or six years, I've mainly done folk music concerts and talk events with professors from universities and research institutes (though I haven't been able to do any of these for the past two years due to COVID-19).

Meanwhile, the style of restaurants operating normally has changed rapidly.

As both the chef and I gained years and experience, we gradually found our own way of doing things. I like New Zealand wine. The chef creates dishes to go with the wine. I think we've become a lot more specialized now than we were at the beginning.

Then, more people started coming to the counter, and something like a small community began to form around our regulars.

And then Corona came along, and that's how it happened.

Now, what should we do from here?

X-axis: taste, y-axis: price.

Regardless of the coronavirus, this is the essence of food and drink, so it is a value that we should continue to pursue. As delicious as possible. As affordable as possible. We will continue to work hard on this.

However, the z-axis: fun. I think that in the future, this aspect will play a much bigger role for small restaurants like ours.

Being delicious and reasonably priced alone is not enough to be competitive. That is why restaurants need to be places that offer "unique fun."

So what exactly is the fun that's unique?

Up until now, we have aimed to create fun at our events, and of course we will continue to do so from now on.

But at the same time, I want to move towards putting more of the spotlight on individuals than before, because I think we are entering an era where individual activities will become more prevalent.

Teleworking will probably continue to some extent. Therefore, business dinners will be significantly reduced compared to pre-COVID times. On the other hand, I think there will be an increased need for "fun restaurants just for yourself" that are separate from work.

With that in mind, Next Bokumo aims to be a store like this.

・Not a "venue for company drinking parties," but a "venue for solo drinking parties that avoids company drinking."

・It's not a place where you can hold group dates, but a place where you can complain to regulars, saying, "I went to a group date the other day, listen to what happened."

・A store that will please those who say, "I want to drink wine, but I'm not so keen on wine bars. I wonder if there's somewhere where I can try a variety of drinks by the glass."

-A place where you can just drop in, have three glasses of wine and three appetizers for about 5,000 yen, and leave feeling tipsy and satisfied.

-This is a restaurant where if you sit down alone and say, "I'm here to try the new menu item," the regular customer sitting next to you will ask, "Do you want to try this too?"

・The introduction is, "I wanted to drink New Zealand wine," but the main topic is, "My ex-boyfriend suddenly contacted me! What do you think?" This is a store that is easy for girls to visit.

・A place where you can't help but dance while drinking and listening to live music.

・A store where you can take home "new values" as a memento of participating in the event.

・A place where you can talk with the owner about the joys of wine.

・A hangout for New Zealand lovers.

...Well, that's about it for now.

To put it simply, I want to make it a place where people feel more comfortable coming alone . I want to pursue the fun of being part of a relaxed community a little more.

I mentioned this to the designer I was discussing the renovation with.

And then...

"Well, it's more of a snack bar than a wine bar."

Huh? What? Do I want to have a snack?

No, it's not a snack.

There is no karaoke, no bottle keeping, and I'm not a drunken barmaid.

There is delicious food by the chef and carefully selected New Zealand wine. There is also the fun of being part of a loose community. When something good happens, something bad happens, or you just want to meet someone, you want to just drop in. That is the direction we are aiming for.

"That's why, Iwasu-san. In the food and beverage industry, a place that has this function is called a 'snack bar.'"

Yes...is this new style that you've arrived at after more than 12 years a snack?

I see, even if that's the case, isn't there another way to say it?

...And so, right now, our designers are drawing up plans based on the concept of "Snack Bokumo."

As I looked at it from the side, I thought, oh my... this might be fun!

I hope that in the coming age we can become a store that is needed but doesn't exist yet.

(All the staff members painted it.)

After renovation) Bokumo