Rocky aoki

Sign In Sign In. New Customer? Create account. Rocky Aoki was born on 9 October in Tokyo, Japan.

Rocky Aoki had an amazing life. For one, he dreamt up Benihana, the iconic teppanyaki restaurant where Americans go to celebrate birthdays and chefs flip shrimp tails into their shirt pockets. But the globe-trotting restaurateur also raced boats, cars and hot air balloons. He produced Broadway plays and founded a porn magazine. He fathered seven children with three women; and when he died in , married to a fourth his third wife , he left behind the sort of combustible family dynamics that gave rise to the epic, ongoing battle over his fractured restaurant empire.

Rocky aoki

He ran a soft-porn magazine, called Muhammad Ali a pal, cycled through romantic interests the way some restaurants run through specials, and relaxed by racing boats and piloting a hot-air balloon. After one of his brushes with death, he awoke in a hospital room with his then-current wife on one side of the bed and his girlfriend at the time on the other. The women had not met previously. The patient lived to tell jokes about how he talked his way out of the situation. Most amazingly, those traits only begin to tell the story of Rocky Aoki, the musician-turned-wrestler-turned-nightclub-impresario who made his money by founding the Benihana teppanyaki chain. If restaurant characters had their own hall of fame, a whole wing could be devoted to the Japanese immigrant who eventually died from lingering after-effects of his thrill-seeking. Subscribe wherever you usually get your podcasts. Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here. Sign up to receive texts from Restaurant Business on news and insights that matter to your brand. The latest from Restaurant Business, sent straight to your inbox. The breakfast-and-lunch chain is proceeding slowly and selectively in building its stack. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn. Peter Romeo has covered the restaurant industry since for a variety of media.

Born October 9Tokyo, Japan.

Published: August 20, Branson, Musk , Trump, Hefner. All playboy entrepreneurs with egos the size of Texas, an instinct to go big, and, of course, an obsession with cold, hard cash. They merely borrowed from one of the original tycoon bad boys; a man one part Chuck Norris legend, and two parts jheri curl. It also launched a bitter legal battle against 6 of his 7 children, that left them without a dime from the Benihana fortune. Legend has it that Yunosuke was walking through the wreckage when he spotted a tiny red flower amidst the soot and destruction — he decided to name his new cafe after the plant: Benihana.

Rocky Aoki, who sought to offer diners a sense of magic and entertainment at his Japanese steakhouse Benihana, has died after complications from cancer. He was Aoki, whose Benihana empire includes more than restaurants worldwide, died Thursday night in New York from pneumonia, surrounded by his wife and six children, company spokeswoman Nancy Bauer said Friday. Born Hiroaki Aoki, he worked in the family business, a coffee shop in Japan, and wanted to offer diners "something out of the ordinary," along with their food. Aoki also inherited his father's love for theater, according to the restaurant's Web site. Aoki held a spot on the Japanese Olympic wrestling team, which eventually brought him to America. He served ice cream by day and studied restaurant management at night, dreaming of opening a restaurant that would blend entertainment and food. He opened his first restaurant in New York in , naming it Benihana, which means "red flower" — the same name as his parent's coffee shop. Designed to look like an authentic Japanese farmhouse interior, food was prepared "teppan-yaki" style at the table on a steel grill, where specially trained chefs performed knife tricks while cooking up the restaurant's signature shrimp, steak and chicken dishes.

Rocky aoki

Published: August 20, Branson, Musk , Trump, Hefner. All playboy entrepreneurs with egos the size of Texas, an instinct to go big, and, of course, an obsession with cold, hard cash. They merely borrowed from one of the original tycoon bad boys; a man one part Chuck Norris legend, and two parts jheri curl.

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Main article: Benihana. They merely borrowed from one of the original tycoon bad boys; a man one part Chuck Norris legend, and two parts jheri curl. Aoki died on July 10, , of pneumonia in New York City. Rocky Aoki was born on 9 October in Tokyo, Japan. February 7, His employees had to complete a three-year apprenticeship program in Japan, as well as a special six-week course in English, American manners and Benihana showmanship to make the cut. Rocky capitalized on time in the spotlight, opening new restaurants in Chicago, Honolulu, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Within a few years, he was an expert himself—he won a world title in and regularly played celebrity charity matches against competitors like Lucille Ball. Strawberry Road. He won the maiden Moscow-to-Milan car rally, raced a stretch Rolls Royce across America, and set a year record in for piloting the longest hot air balloon flight ever — a 5, mile trek across the Pacific — eventually crash-landing in the mountains of Northern California. Members help make our journalism possible. Exclusive Content. Produced by Alexander H.

He came to this country to compete as a wrestler.

April 20, Aoki competed professionally as an offshore powerboat racer along with the APBA world champion Powerboat throttleman Errol Lanier, a former Fort Lauderdale, Florida , fireman who saved his life in a near-fatal powerboat crash in under the Golden Gate Bridge. Over the next few decades, he dipped his toe into every market imaginable, from pro sports attempting to purchase the San Francisco Giants to Broadway productions. The expeditions were to be filmed for Japanese and British television. Steve Aoki. October 25, Financing Franchisees sue Bojangles over marketing. Sign up to receive texts from Restaurant Business on news and insights that matter to your brand. The second time in in a comeback three years after his devastating San Francisco crash. In April , mayors in 49 Benihana-blessed cities across America planted trees and held festivities to celebrate the restaurant chain. Much more. Most Popular.