David Lee

Born to a family that operated an upscale Japanese restaurant, David Lee was exposed to Japanese cuisine at an early age. Despite his early exposure, David initially sought a career path in engineering but his passion for the restaurant industry led him back to study hospitality management at California State Polytechnic University.

As a testing ground for his new venture as a restaurateur, the first Kabuki Japanese Restaurant began its life in Pasadena, California in 1991, during a time when Japanese cuisine was still outside of the mainstream American dining experience. To make Japanese cuisine appealing and approachable, David strategized and expanded his menu selections, as well as found ways to maintain affordable prices and improved Kabuki's dining ambience. By the year 2000, that single restaurant in Pasadena grew into a multi-unit operation, earning a widespread reputation for offering great value in quality food, service and ambience.

Today, Kabuki operates 17 locations in four states, including Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas. David continues to expand Kabuki with the goal of not only sharing the Kabuki culture to a wider audience and but also with the desire to create opportunities for others.

In 2015, while David was studying at Harvard Business School, he was inspired by the word "Kaizen" which means "Change for the Better" in Japanese. After returning from the school, he founded Kaizen Dining Group (KDG) with the vision to diversify dining concepts beyond the Kabuki brand. Kaizen Dining Group continues to grow Kabuki as its parent company, as well as partners with top chefs to build chef-driven dining concepts like Tengoku Ramen Bar and Pikunico Fried Chicken.

These milestones slowly transitioned David from a successful restaurateur to a restaurant producer whose company created more than 1,200 jobs for people from all walks of life. "My goal is for all of the KDG family to be as happy as I am when I leave home for work every morning," says David, who is equally as dedicated to his guests, "We strive to create an innovative and memorable dining experience with great value… we want every restaurant by KDG to be enjoyable not only for connoisseurs, but for novices as well." His passion and determination to grow KDG into a business that creates "Change for the Better" is larger than ever.