Mochi: Authenticity and passion are the keys to a restaurant’s success

Mochi is one of the most popular places in Vienna. It's been like this for years. We talked with the passionate team to learn more about their unique Japanese concepts, how they manage to stay relevant over time and discuss their authentic approach towards providing each guest with a great experience, making them come back.        

What's the story about the opening of Mochi?

We are four friends, two couples, who are both very keen on Japanese inspired food. Back in the days, the amount of this Japanese inspired restaurants in Vienna was very limited, so we decided to take it in our hands, and the idea of Mochi was born.

Where does your passion for Japanese Kitchen come from?

Eddi, who is taking care of the kitchen side at Mochi, started to job at Japanese restaurants during school at a very young age. The precision, the flavours and the techniques have grown his sincere devotion for this style of cuisine. For us all, our passion for Japanese culture, art and the culinary side started many years ago! We’ve been to Japan many times, not as often as we would wish to, but it is always great to get new inspirations.

What's unique about the way you run your restaurant?

We are four founders who are also good friends. Over the last eight years, we still managed to stay as part of the team. We complement each other with strengths in different fields and are very passionate about what we do. We like to think we are one big family.

Can you describe your approach towards hosting a great experience?

We strive to give our guests a similar experience as if we were inviting them into our own house.

‍Today guests are expecting a personalised experience every time they dine out. How do you manage to keep up with the ever-evolving guest expectations?

We love our profession, and we always try to live up to our standards. We are confident in what we are doing and hope our guests can see the effort we are putting into everything we do.

How do you make sure your guests come back? Why is it important?

We are lucky to have many regular guests who have been coming to Mochi since day one. It's so much fun to see familiar faces every day; some of them become dear friends over the years! Kids love coming to Mochi, and it's great to see them growing up. It's a very personal way of working. You can only achieve this with full passion and confidence!

What do you believe is essential to build, run and grow a successful restaurant today?

Authenticity.

How do you manage to stay relevant over the years?

Never stand still, always evolve and try new things. We have four restaurants now, and every restaurant is unique in its own way. That keeps us busy and makes every restaurant an individual challenge.

What are some of the challenges of running a high-end restaurant today?

Way too many.

How do you manage to inspire your team to deliver their best every day?

It's very, very important to stay up to speed for us as well. We have to get inspired ourself to be able to pass it on to our team. It's essential to work with heart and passion.

What’s unique about the food scene in Vienna?

Viennese people can be quite critical and always like to observe first, but if you can convince them, they can be very loyal and faithful as long as you don’t disappoint them. The scene is small when it comes to small independent restaurants, but it is developing very fast. Vienna is always a few years behind cities like London, Paris, Copenhagen or other international cities, but it is an exciting time, and Vienna is ready for more.

What are you hoping to achieve with Mochi?

To make our guest happy and having fun doing so.

You recently opened a new place Kikko Ba, what can you tell us the opening?

Our idea was to open a wine, sake and tapas bar, which started well. It began as a pop-up, easy-going food, small selection of excellent sake and wines and walk-in only policy. By the end of the year, with all the positive feedback we were happy to decide that Kikko Bā will be a permanent addition to the Mochi Family. Now you can reserve a table, although half of the restaurants are still kept free for guests without a booking.

What are you hoping to achieve with the opening?

As we mentioned before, we try never to stand still and always develop new projects, which excite our customers and us. We are delighted and proud that we can achieve success with new openings and that our guests trust in what we do.

What learnings about your restaurant adventure would you like to pass on to other like-minded restaurateurs?

Surround yourself with colleagues who develop the same passion for what you would like to achieve!