Founded by CEO Kash Feng and Chef Jackson Yu, Omakase Restaurant Group (ORG) was born with the opening of Live Sushi Bar in 2008—a Potrero Hill favorite. Since then, ORG has grown to 16 restaurants across the Bay Area, ranging from a Michelin-starred steakhouse to a butcher shop specializing in Japanese Wagyu and a thriving soup dumpling chain to boot.
With 13 years of finance experience, a passion for technology, and countless entrepreneurial wins under his belt, Min Park joined Omakase Restaurant Group as COO and CFO in 2022. Under his leadership, the restaurant group has explored how to streamline operations by partnering with innovative restaurant software companies to scale all of their restaurant concepts.
With a new Palo Alto location of Dumpling Time, the restaurant group's beloved dumpling chain, open for business, and demand for their fine dining restaurants beyond California, it's clear that Park's focus on technology is a winning strategy.
One app to rule them all
In his previous restaurant leadership roles, third-party delivery was always a vital part of Park's growth plans. That's why it's no surprise that with Park at the helm of ORG, third-party delivery is a major growth lever for the restaurant group, accounting for 40% of sales at some locations.
Through experimenting with several third-party delivery apps, Park found DoorDash brought in the most amount of delivery business for ORG. With DoorDash, Dumpling Time saw a 22% increase in year-over-year growth in sales and a 19%* increase in order volume. Because of this, Park and his team decided to make Dumpling Time, Live Sushi Bar, and Okane exclusively available for delivery on DoorDash.
"The sheer amount of eyeballs you get on your business from DoorDash is truly amazing."
In addition to strengthening their relationship with DoorDash, Park has also found that their exclusive partnerships with DoorDash help streamline restaurant hardware and reconciliation. According to Park, "Because we're exclusive with DoorDash, we don't have multiple tablets and services to reconcile backend finances, which eases operations."
To further simplify restaurant operations, ORG switched from a different online ordering system to DoorDash Online Ordering. With Online Ordering, all delivery orders placed through ORG's channels (website, social media, etc.) show up on their POS systems and are fulfilled by Dashers. Using both Marketplace and Online Ordering together has allowed ORG to consolidate their restaurant technology.
Gourmet to go
Although delivery plays a major role in ORG's success today, introducing the delivery model to the group's esteemed chefs was initially an uphill battle. In Park's observation, "When you're a fine dining chef and you've spent your entire career perfecting a dish, you want to make sure it's delivered at the time the dish will taste best."
To ensure ORG's chefs felt confident that their dishes wouldn't be compromised by delivery, Park experimented with lengthening prep times and even shaking orders to see how they fared.
"When taste testing, I'll take a delivery order from the kitchen, wait 20 minutes, and even shake it around a little bit to test the packaging."
With all of his learnings in mind, Omakase, the restaurant group's titular sushi restaurant, has plans to launch its first premium sushi box. This bespoke delivery option will enable customers to enjoy Omakase's gourmet sushi offerings from the comfort of their own homes.
ORG has also added some of their other high-end concepts, like The Third Floor, Prelude, and The Butcher Shop by Niku, the group's retail operation, to DoorDash as well. At The Butcher Shop, customers can purchase imported Japanese Wagyu to cook up at home. Now part of DoorDash, accessing the Butcher Shop's premium meat is easier than ever before.
"Now that The Butcher Shop is on DoorDash, if five extra guests unexpectedly come to your 4th of July barbeque, you can have Wagyu delivered to your home!"
Turning fine dining into a habit with DashPass and Promotions
To optimize their presence on DoorDash, ORG leverages DashPass to attract customers. DashPass is a customer membership program that incentivizes more frequent orders with member-only offers and items, free delivery fees, and lower service fees on eligible orders.
The restaurant group also uses promotions to turn first-time customers into loyalists. Park has seen success with offering a 30-40% discount on a minimum dollar size to win new customers. He's found that once a customer orders from one of ORG's restaurants, it may appear in the DoorDash app's "Your past orders" section—making it easier to win repeat business.
Souped-up and scaling fast
With eyes on national and even international expansion and year-to-date sales across the restaurant group up by 12%***, the future is bright for ORG. Although scaling a restaurant group comes with a lot of unpredictability, one thing is certain: DoorDash will be by ORG's side as they bring delicious soup dumplings, tender Wagyu, and fresh sashimi to an even bigger audience.
"You have some of the smartest people in America working at DoorDash—having their assistance with the strategy and marketing, and having product ready-to-go has been a tremendous help."
*July ‘24 - June ‘25 vs. July ‘23 - June ‘24 vs. June ’24–July ’23
** Compared to Q2 of 2024
***July ‘24 - June ‘25 vs. July ‘23 - June ‘24
