“Early on in the pandemic, John Sugimura, chef/co-owner of PinKU Japanese Street Food, discovered that his four-year-old restaurant was ‘set up for a pandemic, even though I didn’t know a pandemic was coming,’ he said. His secret? The 900-square foot operation was already a lean, mean dining machine. ‘We don’t have a 130-seat dining room and 40 people on staff, and that has allowed us to be fluid. We can make adjustments on the fly. We didn’t have to reinvent ourselves, and go through all the horrible steps that others had to go through. We were never knocked down and had to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off. We just marched on. We haven’t grown, but we’re not destitute, either. We’ve kept our head above water. It’s been a tight ship, and now we’re pros at running a tight ship. I’ve never felt more on top of my game.’” – Star Tribune

Read the full article by Rick Nelson and Sharyn Jackson at startribune.com