Eric Jiang has more experience in running a successful small business than his 26 years would imply. Eric learned the sushi business from the inside out, starting as a sushi chef assistant by slicing cucumbers and making nishiki rice in a Japanese restaurant in New York City. After training and working as a sushi chef for five years, Eric opened his first Japanese restaurant in Virginia Beach when he was 21 years old. In 2007, Eric sold the business and moved to Upstate New York to open his second restaurant, Mitsuba Japanese Cuisine. Mitsuba serves capacity crowds seven days a week and Eric is on site daily, checking the appearance and freshness of dishes, planning new menus and more. With help from SBA, Eric opened another restaurant in New Hartford last year.
 

Mitsuba’s newest location offers Hibachi and Southeast Asian cuisine in addition to the fusion sushi menu. Four top-notch Hibachi chefs recruited from California and New York City turn chow time into show time, twirling knives in the air and while preparing the meals for customers seated around grilling stations. Southeast Asian dishes spanning the Pacific Rim from Thailand and China to Japan are featured in the other half of the restaurant. The restaurant chefs create a fusion of east and west on every plate while staying authentic to sushi cuisine. The new location seats a maximum of 185 people between the hibachi stations, casual dine-in area for Southeast Asian cuisine and the full-service bar. To run a restaurant on this scale, Eric has almost 20 new hires: a general manager, four sushi chefs, four hibachi chefs, and 10 wait staff.
 

The new restaurant has completely transformed a former Ground Round restaurant into a modern Japanese Steakhouse & Asian Bistro. Eric used a 90% SBA-guaranteed loan from M&T Bank to purchase and renovate the building in six months. With Recovery Act changes to temporarily eliminate borrower guaranty fees, Eric was able to save over $7,000 in fees to reinvest in working capital. In the midst of a recession and tight credit conditions, M&T business banker Alicia Brockway found SBA’s 7(a) program to be the right solution for Eric’s financing needs.
 

With five years of restaurant business experience, Eric feels more than ready for the opportunities the new venture will create in the days and weeks ahead. “I want to bring Asian cuisine to this community and I want to make people happy with my food,” he comments.