Niwanohana Japanese Restaurant at 1309 E. Cary St. (Photos by Michael Thompson)
A Shockoe Slip restaurant is the latest local eatery to go up for sale.
Niwanohana Japanese Restaurant at 1309 E. Cary St. was recently put on the market. Sabrina Boggs, the restaurant’s general manager, posted an ad online for the business and said that owner Hua Ke is asking for $70,000. The price includes everything, down to the menus.
Niwanohana leases a space that seats about 60, and the average ticket price per person runs between $10 and $30, depending on the time of day. Boggs said the restaurant does about $20,000 in sales each month and will remain open until Ke finds a buyer he’s happy with.
Niwanohana owner and sushi chef Hua Ke and the general manager Sabrina Boggs.
Boggs said that Ke, in his late 50s and the restaurant’s only sushi chef, is tired and wants to move back to China. She added that construction on the forthcoming six-story, 210-room hotel at Cary and 14th streets hasn’t helped.
“The construction is really affecting business,” Boggs said. “And we just don’t have the capital to do things that would help, like advertising [or] investing in a bar.”
The restaurant sits on the ground floor of the three-story building on East Cary St. The building’s other tenants include Chmura Economics & Analytics, TEO Consulting, Canal Capital Management and Proactive Resolutions.
Several Richmond restaurants have hit the market in recent months. EAT by Pescados, Crossroads Coffee and Ice Cream, and Boo’s Brown Bag went up for sale in August. In September, Perly’s and the Zeus Gallery Cafe joined the pack.
Only one of those – Boo’s Brown Bag – has found a buyer.
Ke worked in restaurants in Asia, New York and Richmond, including Carytown Sushi, before buying what was then called Hana Sushi for $50,000 in 2009. He has invested about $25,000 in the restaurant and hopes to find a buyer who will continue with the sushi theme.
“We have not expressed interest to buyers that want to change things completely,” Boggs said.
Niwanohana Japanese Restaurant at 1309 E. Cary St. (Photos by Michael Thompson)
A Shockoe Slip restaurant is the latest local eatery to go up for sale.
Niwanohana Japanese Restaurant at 1309 E. Cary St. was recently put on the market. Sabrina Boggs, the restaurant’s general manager, posted an ad online for the business and said that owner Hua Ke is asking for $70,000. The price includes everything, down to the menus.
Niwanohana leases a space that seats about 60, and the average ticket price per person runs between $10 and $30, depending on the time of day. Boggs said the restaurant does about $20,000 in sales each month and will remain open until Ke finds a buyer he’s happy with.
Niwanohana owner and sushi chef Hua Ke and the general manager Sabrina Boggs.
Boggs said that Ke, in his late 50s and the restaurant’s only sushi chef, is tired and wants to move back to China. She added that construction on the forthcoming six-story, 210-room hotel at Cary and 14th streets hasn’t helped.
“The construction is really affecting business,” Boggs said. “And we just don’t have the capital to do things that would help, like advertising [or] investing in a bar.”
The restaurant sits on the ground floor of the three-story building on East Cary St. The building’s other tenants include Chmura Economics & Analytics, TEO Consulting, Canal Capital Management and Proactive Resolutions.
Several Richmond restaurants have hit the market in recent months. EAT by Pescados, Crossroads Coffee and Ice Cream, and Boo’s Brown Bag went up for sale in August. In September, Perly’s and the Zeus Gallery Cafe joined the pack.
Only one of those – Boo’s Brown Bag – has found a buyer.
Ke worked in restaurants in Asia, New York and Richmond, including Carytown Sushi, before buying what was then called Hana Sushi for $50,000 in 2009. He has invested about $25,000 in the restaurant and hopes to find a buyer who will continue with the sushi theme.
“We have not expressed interest to buyers that want to change things completely,” Boggs said.
Thanks for all the years of great sushi! You’ll be missed!