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About Us. A quick overview. REI Food Service, LLC dba Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant was established in 2001. 3 locations - Pearl City, King Street & Niu Valley. Owners - Tom Jones, Tony Sato & Willy Okimoto. Gyotaku means Fish on the Table or Fish Art. Everything we do related to our work and the company should be done with our Core Ideology in mind. Affordable traditional Japanese contemporary local cuisine. Voted Hawaii's Favorite Japanese Restaurant. A brief history. In 2000, when Kyotaru announced it would be exiting the US market, Tom and Tony grabbed this opportunity to realize their own vision. In August 2001, they invested in one of the restaurants they had worked in and formed REI Food Service, LLC dba Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant in Pearl City. Within 6 months, they acquired a second restaurant, the former Suehiro Japanese Restaurant on King Street. In 2008, they opened the third Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant in the Niu Valley Shopping Center. MEET THE OWNERS. TOM JONES, PRESIDENT. Tom grew up on the Jersey Shore, during the days of “peace, love, and follow your bliss, man.” A self-proclaimed “kitchen rat,” he loved to concoct new tasty things and try them out on his friends. He listened to his muse, and parlayed his love for creative cooking into a lucrative career by enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating at age nineteen, and working his way up the culinary ladder on the East Coast, he ultimately made a life-changing move to Tokyo, where he would overcome cultural and language barriers to become one of the first non-Japanese sushi cutters in the region. TONY SATO, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT. Tony quite literally grew up in the Japanese food industry. As a child, he toddled around the family-owned restaurant and absorbed the daily activities as he watched his great grandmother, mother, and aunts and uncles go about their business. It was just natural that he worked at restaurants to make ends meet while he attended Senshu University in Tokyo.  WILLY OKIMOTO, EXECUTIVE CHEF. Willy grew up amongst the surf and sandy beaches of Hawaii. He started his culinary profession at Kaimuki Inn as a cook in 1977 and has worked at various restaurants before becoming the Executive Chef for Kyotaru Hawaii in 1987. It was at Kyotaru where Willy met Tom and Tony which began their friendship and also where he trained in Japanese Cuisine in Tokyo. Little did he know that this would be the start of a business venture to be co-owner of Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant years later. Willy has over 35 years of kitchen management experience which he shares, in developing and training of staff. THE JAPANESE WORDPLAY OF GYOTAKU. The Japanese word gyotaku refers to the process of capturing the image of a fresh fish by rubbing it with ink and pressing it on washi rice paper. This practice originated hundreds of years ago in Japan used by fishermen & scientists interested in accurately recording catches and documenting various species of fish. Over the years gyotaku has developed into an art form. Tony Sato cleverly combined two Japanese words and kanjis (the symbols) to create a unique identity for the business. Gyo "Fish" + Taku "Table" = Gyotaku "Fish on the Table. Therefore, our restaurant's name pronounced is Gyotaku - Fish on the Table. OUR CORE IDEOLOGY. WHY we are in business + HOW we conduct ourselves in doing business. CORE PURPOSE. REI Food Service, LLC maintains its market leadership position by exceeding the expectations of our guests, employees and investors. CORE VALUES . are essential and enduring guiding principles that are never compromised due to financial, cultural, or competitive reasons. always come BEFORE policies, practices and goals. In fact, policies, practices and goals are BASED ON Core Values. serves as a compass keeping the organization moving in the right direction. SANITATION. Product sanitation and good hygiene at all times in a safe, clean environment. BEHAVIOR. Honest, ethical, and moral behavior at work and in the community. TRAINING. Conscientious and diligent effort to develop individual and team skills and improve results in an enjoyable environment. DEVELOPMENT. Vigorous product and service improvement, development. GROWTH. Recognizing individual and team results that help to achieve our objectives. OUR CONCEPT. Gyotaku Japanese Restaurants offer affordable traditional Japanese and contemporary local cuisine accented with friendly, knowledgeable service in a clean, casual family-style restaurant. The menu consists predominantly of complete meals accented with appetizers, ala carte & dessert items; plus soft drinks, beer, wine & sakes. Our target market are persons of all ages, income groups and ethnic backgrounds with an affinity for tasty, attractively prepared fare. MEET THE MANAGEMENT TEAM. General Manager, Nelia Solano. Assistant General Manager, Gerome "Jay" Garcia, Marissa Lee, Lovely Moyle, Kimberley Pascual, Janice Respicio, Jennie Sekimoto, Ismael "Martin" Valencia. Restaurant Manager, Brian Kaneshiro, Jaylin Kennedy, Lance Tanaka, Nan Uramoto. Executive Sous Chef, Harry Nakashima Jr. Kojo Chef, Doroteo "Junior" Valdez Jr. Office Manager, Judy Koza. H.R. Employee Engagement Manager, Anna Martin-Domion. ORGANIZATIONAL CHART. An organizational chart (often called organization chart, or org chart) is a diagram that shows the structure of an organization and the relationships and relative ranks of its parts and positions, jobs. AWARDS & RECOGNITION. For over 20 years, Gyotaku Japanese Restaurants have been recognized by Hawaii's top media publications & their readers as Hawaii's Best Japanese Restaurant. The reliable quality of our tasty recipes & attentive service style have earned us the ability to describe Gyotaku as Hawaii's Favorite Japanese Restaurant RECYCLING, WATER AND ENERGY CONSERVATION. R.E.I. Food Service, LLC is committed to preserving Hawaii as a paradise by recycling and encouraging water and energy conservation practices at all restaurants to save resources for generations to come.