おもてなしの秘密 / A secret of hospitality

知り合いの割烹レストランで、お客さまがひっきりなしの超人気店があります。私も何度かお邪魔したことがありますが、もちろん、美味しさ、安さ、おもてなしの良さの三拍子が揃っています。しかし、それだけなら他にも同じようなお店がたくさんあります。何がこのお店を際立たせているのでしょうか。

There is a super-popular cuisine restaurant run by my friend, always full of customers. I have also visited several times and it clearly holds all three conditions of deliciousness, cheapness, and hospitality. However, there are many restaurants with those three conditions. Then, what makes this shop prominent?

家族と知り合いで経営をしているのですが、それは経営者の哲学にあると思うのです。一度、女将にお聞きしたことがあります。その女将は熱心な仏教徒で何ごとにも全く妥協をしない徹底した奉仕の方です。一言で言いますと、そこまでやるか、という驚きを感じさせる人です。計算を度外視した奉仕で利益のほとんどを他者や社会のために費やす人なのです。お金は天下の回りものという諺が日本にはあるのですがまさしく、この女将を見ていると商売ではなく人様への奉仕によってお金がぐるぐる良い方向に回っている感じなのです。

This restaurant is run by families and friends. I think the prominence of this shop is mainly due to the owner’s philosophy. Once I asked the lady owner about her management philosophy. She is a devout Buddhist and a person of thorough service that spares no compromise. In a word, she is a person who makes people feel the surprise that she serves to an unexpected degree. She also spends most of the profits for people and society gained by the service that goes far beyond any calculation. In Japan, there is a proverb that the money is circulating around the world. Like this proverb, by seeing this lady owner, we feel that money is spinning in a good direction not by business but by selfless service to people.

元手も全くないところからのゼロからの出発だったそうです。現在のお店は3軒目で、大小のお部屋がいくつかあるとても素敵な現代風割烹レストランです。和洋中を組み合わせて、伝統料理と創作料理をちりばめながら常に新たなメニューの創作にも余念がありません。今は長女の二代目女将が経営の先頭に立っています。一度行った人は必ずリピーターになるという超人気店で予約もなかなか取れません。

I heard that it was a departure from zero without any resources. The current restaurant is the third building and is a very nice contemporary-style restaurant with several large and small banquet rooms. While combining Japanese, Western and Chinese cuisines, they are constantly challenging to create new menus while balancing traditional and creative dishes. Now the second lady owner, the eldest daughter, is heading the management. It is a super popular restaurant of which people who have once visited will surely become repeaters and no one can easily make a reservation.

初代女将の答えはこうでした。 「徹底しておもてなし、奉仕をさせて頂き、お客様に喜んで頂く。お客様がここまでしてくれるのかと、感動、感激されるまで奉仕をさせて頂くことをモットーにしています。」

The answer of the first lady owner was as follows;

“We do utmost to welcome and serve our customers and make them happy. Our motto is that we serve our customers to the extent that they are not only pleased or happy but are touched and moved by our service which is beyond their expectations.”

実際、お邪魔する度に私もすべてに感動、感激をするのです。商売の枠を超えた奉仕、仏教的に言うと見返りのない布施行、菩薩行なのです。この初代女将の精神は二代目女将、そして家族を主とした従業員の方々にも浸透しています。

Actually, every time I visited this restaurant, I am deeply moved and touched by everything. It is a service beyond business, no-return giving or bodhisattva practice of donation in Buddhist terminology. The spirit of the first lady owner is being inherited by the second lady owner and family workers.

妥協のない奉仕、来ていただいた方にいかに喜んでもらうか、心から感動してもらうか、この揺るぎない決意が人を惹きつけ続ける秘密なのでしょう。人の期待を大幅に上回る奉仕、ここに喜びと感動に満ちた社会を築き上げるヒントが潜む気がしてなりません。

Uncompromising service, as well as an unshakable determination as to how to please and touch customers’ minds and hearts, may be a secret for keeping to attract people. In a service that greatly exceeds human expectations, exists hints to build a society full of joy and happiness, I deeply feel.

今日もまた沢山の人に奉仕するために、社会に貢献するために、女将たちは朝早くから夜遅くまで汗をかいています。

In order to serve a lot of people and society today, they are sweating a lot from early in the morning till late at night.

二代目女将にも最近聞いてみました。彼女からは「メニューたて、掃除、花の生け込み、仕込み、仕入れ、調理、迎えつけ、どんな仕事をしている時もどうしたらお客様に喜んでいただけるか？？それだけを常に考えています。」と言う言葉が返ってきました。真のおもてなしとは人に喜びと幸せを与えること。それが彼らから学んだことです。この精神が今でも脈々と受け継がれ、実践されています。今日もたくさんのお客さまを迎え入れているに違いありません。

I also recently asked second lady owner the same question and she answered, “I am always only thinking that how we could please and make our customers happy whatever work we do such as making a menu, cleaning up, making a flower arrangement, feeding, buying foodstuff, cooking and welcoming etc.” True hospitality is to give people joy and happiness. This is what I learned from them. This spirit is firmly inherited from first to present generation and is being thoroughly practiced. I am sure they are offering a super hospitality to lots of customers today, too.

宗教者の役割も全く一緒なのだと思います。

I think the role of religious people is totally the same as theirs.