Nobu's Secret: CEO Talks Plan to Have 80 Luxury Hotels

27.04.2024 - 13:41 / skift.com / Robert De-Niro / Sean Oneill / Nobu Matsuhisa / London

The first Nobu, a new-wave Japanese restaurant, opened in New York 30 years ago this year. The brand keeps expanding, with about 50 restaurants worldwide.

In 2013, it debuted Nobu Hotels as a brand extension, opening a Las Vegas property within Caesars Palace. This month, Nobu announced plans for its 40th hotel, expected to open in Ho Chi Minh in 2026.

“We’ll have 80 hotels within the next five years, easily,” said Trevor Horwell, CEO of Nobu Hospitality.

Skift spoke with Horwell to learn Nobu Hotels’ game plan.

Horwell made an indirect case that his hotel brand has performed well financially.

Nobu’s co-founders, Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro, and Meir Teper saw the power of the brand early on. Many hotels asked Nobu to run restaurants in them, which made the shareholders aware of the potential for a hotel brand extension.

“Bob De Niro basically said, ‘Let’s do it ourselves,'” Horwell said.

Horwell had helped to create the Hard Rock hotel brand with Struan McKenzie. They also worked at Hyatt. They left in 1997 to create a lifestyle hotel in Europe called Como Metropolitan London, which housed the first Nobu restaurant outside of the U.S. Then Nobu tapped them to create Nobu Hotels.

“We spent about two years without an office,” Horwell said, about McKenzie and himself. “We operated out of a Starbucks.”

The shareholders wanted a distinctive translation of the Nobu experience.

“Bob said, ‘I want it to be special,'” according to Horwell. “‘You do what you do,’ he said. ‘Whoever calls it cool, that’s fine.'”

That message was translated into a recipe for hiring smart people who think clearly about how to prioritize Nobu’s luxury customers.

“We have about six to seven million customers at our restaurants each year, and we know what they like,” said Horwell, who added that his team closely monitors customer feedback.

Horwell feels strongly about the importance of company culture for retaining talent.

“We want people who take professional pride in their work, even if it’s breakfast or room service,” he said.

Horwell lists the names of multiple people who have stayed with the company for decades, often rising through the ranks. One reason he’s eager to expand Nobu Hotels is because the bigger the footprint, the more opportunities for employees to advance: Restaurant managers moving into selling and managing events, for example.

Horwell also cites Nobu Hotels’ relative lack of corporate bureaucracy. “We work very hard to pick the best general managers, and at each location, they drive the culture, sales, and marketing,” Horwell said.

Anyone who has watched the recent hit TV show The Bear may question how healthy the culture can be in a high-end restaurant.

“Kitchen teams work very hard on everything from