It has been 12 years since British chef Ian Tozer opened Roti, a U.S.-style grill and rotisserie, in Tokyo's Roppongi. He is currently founder-general manager-executive chef.
What is your daily routine?
I get up, get online, check e-mails, respond to either work-related matters, staff, vendors or things from our main company, as I also assist them with work on Seattle’s Best Coffee Shops, Cinnabon and another Bar & grill concept we operate named Vashon. Then, I work on any number of things, menus, wine lists, special promotions, postings on Facebook, Twitter or other PR matters.
Sometimes I feel like a one-man band, moving from doing my own graphic design to calculated costs, or ordering craft beer. Not to mention some time to study food & wine and general global business trends. Endless, but perhaps that is why I am in this business in the first place, to stay busy. That's before breakfast (which I never eat anyway). OUT THE DOOR by 9 a.m.
I get to the restaurant, open up, in the kitchen with the boys, prep for lunch. At 2 p.m. after lunch, it's back to paperwork, talk to staff ... could be I have to pop out to the main office, attend a wine tasting or meet with vendors or PR people. Then I go through things with my hall manager, reservations, issues with the front etc. By 5 p.m., I'm back in the kitchen, getting ready for dinner. I cook during the evening, get out in the dining room, do some bar work with all the staff, meet customers, back and forth. I usually exit the restaurant when things die down around 9-10 p.m., get home, tidy up loose ends on the computer, do some ordering perhaps, a little light F&B study, check the news quickly, shower then eat in front of the computer (my only meal of the day) and fall asleep with a glass of wine around midnight.
What is the biggest challenge you face?
The biggest challenge for me is to keep the restaurant alive, fresh and moving forward. This not only involves what is on the menu, but also the environment, the PR and most importantly the staff -- they are the ones on the front line. Selecting the right staff is crucial; they also need to be highly motivated, and kept motivated as they sign up to “join the family” and work together hopefully gelling into a great team. Such things get noticed by our customers and make a real difference to the atmosphere. When it’s good, it works brilliantly. I just have to make sure it is always that way, year on year. It takes up a chunk of my time but it can really be satisfying, kind of like my extra children.
What is the best part of doing what you do?
Getting up every day and wanting to start work right away year after year. Also, having pretty much a free hand to be my own boss, plus of course food, wine and all manner of good things I get to spend my time either enjoying cooking or researching
Who is the most interesting person you have met while at work?
Ned Goodwin – Japan’s only Master of Wine & a real eccentric character. Plus of course, a few of the regular customers and many of my staff over the years.
What is the strangest request you have ever had?
Well, not really one stands out, more like many, usually by Japanese customers. Recently, a young girl sitting at the bar for lunch stopped me as I passed by, to say thank you for a lovely lunch. When I got back to the kitchen, I found out she only ordered a side of mashed potato and happily ate the whole plate after pouring sugar all over it. Strange.
The defining moment of your career so far?
The day my work became my life, and not work getting in the way of my life.
What is your favorite food/restaurant in Japan?
Food – steak, and restaurant - New York Grill, just for the feeling of it, still does it for me after so many years
What do you like to do on your time off?
Sleep, eat, drink wine, when I can, a little tennis, golf or skiing in winter. Other than that, gardening, music, movies.
What is the best thing about living in Japan?
Taxi doors that open by themselves
If you never got into your industry, what would you be doing now?
Advertising Exec – Designer – Cartoonist – Farmer
You have been in Roppongi for a long time now. How has it changed since the early days of Roti?
It’s become more chic, yet still maintains its love-it-or-hate-it underbelly. Which is interesting and reminds me of other great inner-city neighborhoods like Soho in London or even Hollywood in Los Angeles
What are your future plans for your business/your life in Japan?
Keep at it, meet more people, make good connections, and continue to develop Brand Roti. I am also going to throw myself more into wine study and hopefully become an officially qualified sommelier. Expansion would be nice, new restaurant, new wine bar, but that will have to wait and see what is around the next corner.
© Japan Today
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CHAMADE
I used to love the original, old Roti, the one next to Tipness, but the service got blah, the menu dwindled down, and I stopped going there as often as I once did. Now there is another one, where things are offered and done differently and the staff is not especially well trained, in the Midtown shopping mall. I heard that Roti was sold to the Japanese (often meaning a farewell to the gaijin-oriented idiosncasies and menus we love) and had fallen out of foreign hands, whch may account for its current comparative mediocrity - in a city where mediocre can mean death.
And now we read its connected to the Japanese owner of Cinnabon and Seattle's Best? In heaven's name, what for?
Serrano
"What is your favorite food/restaurant in Japan?
Ian: New York Grill
What! Not rotisseire chicken / Roti?!
I've been to Roti at least 15 times, their rotisseire chicken is great, as is their Greek salad.
Ian, whom I've met once, he's a pleasant enough fella, says he has only 1 meal a day, after he gets home around 10pm, but he doesn't mention all the food he must eat during all those hours he's in Roti, heck, I've worked in many a restaurant, and I can tell you everyone I've ever known who works in a restaurant eats something, usually a lot, during work!
RomeoRII
Went there one time about three years ago. The place is a rip-off. 1,500 yen for glass of red wine that maybe had three sips in it. The salad was soggy and the main course was bland and equally overpriced. Paid the inflated bill but vowed to never to return. Much better spots to have a meal in Tokyo than Roti's.
RR
smartacus
One of my favorite restaurants in Tokyo, though I am sorry they took cheesecake off the dessert menu. It was one of the best I had eaten. Ian, if you're reading this, please put it back on the menu.