Already the owner of three restaurants under the Grey Whale name in Lincoln, Hui Guo opened his fourth late last month in a Haymarket spot, featuring yet another new dining concept.
His newest restaurant, Kasumi Sushi, in the former Ichiban Sichuan on North Eighth Street, offers an all-you-can eat option at both lunch ($14.99) and dinner ($24.99). Diners can order from a list of more than 50 appetizers, soups, salads, classic sushi rolls and desserts. Guo said this is the first restaurant in Lincoln offering all-you-can-eat sushi seven days a week.
He said he knows college students and friends who drive to Omaha where at least one restaurant offers a similar deal. “I can bring people from outside Lincoln and west of here. That’s why we bring one here.â€
And drawing people into a city for unique dining experiences is important if restaurants are going to contribute to a city’s economic development, according to Robin Eschliman, who owns a commercial real estate business and hosts “Grow Lincoln†radio, TV and podcast shows.
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Eschliman said residents eating out in their own city are recirculating dollars. But people who come from outside the city add dollars to the economy.
“We do measure economic development on what people spend when they are visiting,†she said.
After introducing many local diners to their first poke bowl when he opened Grey Whale Poke Bowl on Q Street in April 2018, Kasumi Sushi is Guo’s latest effort to offer something different. The restaurant is his wife’s name in Japanese.
“I always wanted to bring something new to Nebraska, especially Lincoln. People are very friendly and open-minded,†said Guo, 31, who grew up in China, but learned the art of Japanese sushi making before moving to Lincoln in 2015 from New York City.
The master sushi chef who taught Guo there became a mentor who also taught him about restaurant management.
“I’ve eaten at all-you-can-eat sushi places, but none in Nebraska,†said Jeff Korbelik, who has been a local food critic for more than 20 years. “It’s unheard-of in Lincoln.â€
Guo credits his success to customers, whom he thanked during the holidays by giving beautiful tea sets he’d ordered from China. His parents still live there, but Guo and his wife followed his sister to Nebraska, to take care of her when she began school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
None of them had ever been to Nebraska before, but “we find out it’s a nice place,†he said.
Guo and his wife, Li Xia Wui, bought a house and started their first restaurant, Grey Whale Sushi and Grill, in the Grand Manse in April 2017.
After finding success, Guo opened Nebraska’s first poke bowl restaurant on Q Street near the UNL campus a year later. In 2019, he opened Grey Whale Ramen and Poke Bowl at Gateway Mall and a second sushi and grill location, which he recently closed.
A poke bowl (pronounced “poke-ayâ€) is a one-bowl dish that generally features some form of marinated raw fish or protein, such as tuna, shrimp or salmon, layered with veggies or fruit, sauce and topped with a crunchy item. The bowls, which originated in Hawaii, where poke means “to cut,†were already popular on the East and West coasts, he said.
“So I bring to Nebraska, and they like it.â€
Guo’s goal to introduce new concepts in Lincoln has served him well, Korbelik said.
He said Guo’s original Grey Whale Sushi and Grill, which opened in a former courthouse and post office, was a unique place. Then, when Guo opened his first poke bowl restaurant near UNL, he kept prices reasonable for college students, including those from other countries.
“It makes it very comforting for them to find food from their homes,†Korbelik said, also noting that Guo delivers sushi with his own drivers, another unique marketing idea.
Guo said after he opened his poke bowl restaurant in Lincoln, a mall manager tried to recruit him to open a similar space in Omaha. But Guo said he wants to stay focused on Lincoln, where he and his wife have hired local managers to help them run their restaurants. He also employs 40-50 mostly part-time employees who work in the kitchens and as servers.
He said he tries to offer quality food at affordable prices and take care of his customers.
“We really care about our customers so people really support our business.â€
And that support is important for restaurants in Lincoln, where the number that open and close each year is almost identical.
But last year there was a net loss of restaurants in the city — 29 opened and 31 closed by Eschliman’s count — and most of the vacant restaurants are downtown.
“Downtown really took it in the chin,†she said.
Guo said his original business name was chosen because the pronunciation of his name in Chinese also sounds like the word for “grey.†He picked “whale†because it “is the biggest fish in the ocean.â€
And while the number of restaurants he owns is impressive, he said his expansions have not been an attempt to be the biggest, but rather to offer a variety.
“We bring different concepts to Lincoln, Nebraska.â€