Opening of Kajiro Sushi Vienne

For several months, we had been wanting to set up in Vienne. The concept had got off to a good start in Condrieu and we had people on our team capable of running a new restaurant. The town of Vienne came naturally to us, partly because some of us live there, but also because the town had a “shortage” of sushi options. We are neither the only ones nor the first, but in proportion to its size, there is room for another restaurant.

So off we went on Le Bon Coin, searching for commercial premises in Vienne. There was no shortage of listings but… good locations are few and far between. On top of that, the premises had to allow a restaurant business, and stay within our budget, whether for the purchase, the renovation work or the rent. In short, it took longer than we had hoped. We visited no fewer than 15 spaces, made 3 offers and were starting to despair a little.

Then our space came along, at 59 rue Victor Hugo. Available for a while, with few shops around but very close to the centre, with great visibility and… a large floor area, a lovely volume — we immediately pictured ourselves in it. 140 m²! For us, coming from 35 m² in Condrieu, that is huge! After a few zany ideas, the children's play area was the obvious choice. It has been in our DNA from the start. We want to be accessible and family-friendly, and since we all have children we know that restaurant options open to little ones often boil down to fast-food chains.

We made up our minds in 5 minutes on September 28, on October 3 we had the keys, and the race against the clock could begin. Ideas, quotes, building work, managing the site, booking equipment, sourcing supplies, recruiting staff — all in 1 month and 10 days. We knew what we wanted to do, and our experience in Condrieu helped us a lot.