Profiles of Innovation

How Do You Roll? Fast, casual and made to order with a generous dash of ambition

"An entrepreneur is somebody that has a vision of what the future is before it exists… and then has the drive, need and desire to make that vision a reality," says Yuen Yung, CEO and co-founder of How Do You Roll? sushi company.

Remarkably, Yuen's vision for a "fast-casual," custom sushi shop was strong enough to see its inception through the financial crisis of 2008. Yuen, rising in the ranks at a comfortable corporate job, often found himself lamenting the lack of healthy, quick lunch options to his brother Peter, a sushi chef at a fine dining restaurant in Houston, when they realized a risky but exciting restaurant opportunity lie at their feet — HDYR?.

Together, the Yungs became accustomed to overcoming adversity in the name of establishing HDYR?, including a particularly devastating draining of financial resources. "We knew it was going to be tough — all the banks ran away [in 2008]" explains Yuen. "So when that happened, we had to come up with our own capital. It was not an easy time. I still remember very vividly the afternoon I told my wife, 'Hey honey, I just cashed out our final IRA.'"

The enormous risk paid off due to the Yungs' innovative concept to rethink sushi ("When we first started, people said we were blasphemous to traditional sushi," Yuen says, referring to unique menu items like fruit or cooked meats), as well as their steadfast commitment to honoring their values as much as their business plan.

"In business you have to stay humble, because it's definitely survival of the fittest," says Yuen. "How I stay grounded is really more of an understanding of who I am as a person and what are my values. So I spend a lot of time working on myself with my own family mission, my family core values — first and foremost I have to be a good husband, son, father, brother."

In other words, the business is simply another avenue by which to build the unwavering character Yuen says his family is made of.

"I do spend a lot of time thinking about the sacrifices made from my family's perspective [in] coming to this country, being first generation, and what it takes to live the American dream. My sense of responsibility really comes from that," he explains

So what's the favorite custom sushi roll of a man with such a varied history and unique fusion of personal tastes? Traditional seaweed on white rice with traditional California Roll ingredients — with a smattering of fresh fruit and a sprinkling of hot chili powder, of course.

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Starting from bed rest

Kendra Scott goes to Houston: "Like Build-A-Bear for grown women"

Following a flagship store on Austin's South Congress, and addresses in BeverlyHills and Dallas' West Village, a Kendra Scott boutique has cropped up this weekin Rice Village.
Photo by Whitney Radley
Kendra Scott, the woman behind the eponymous jewelry line, grew up in Houstonbefore moving to Austin at 19.
Photo by Whitney Radley

Kendra Scott's success story is one for the books: Pregnant and confined to bed rest, with a recently-unemployed husband and a meager bank balance, she began creating custom jewelry.

Once she was allowed back on her feet, Scott would walk around to Austin stores taking sales orders and then sell her samples to the very last shop on her route so that she'd have the funds to purchase supplies to fill them.

Eleven years later, Scott opened her fourth eponymous boutique (and the largest yet) in Houston's Rice Village this week, with others slated for CityCentre and Scottsdale, Ariz. — and she's revolutionizing the way that women shop for jewelry.

But the best part is, each wearer has the ability to tailor pieces to her personal tastes or a particular outfit at the Color Bar.

"I found that what was missing out there was colorful, beautiful jewelry using natural gemstones, at a price that I could afford," Scott says.

She and her design team lean on antique jewels and contemporary trends for inspiration to create pieces that are in vogue, on-brand and timeless — something that, Scott hopes, a granddaughter will pull out of a jewelry box decades hence.

But the best part is, each wearer has the ability to tailor pieces to her personal tastes or a particular outfit at the Color Bar. The Rice Village boutique is equipped with two 55-inch touch screens, a half-dozen iPads and even "bar menus" with images of products and options.

This makes each customer a part of the design process. They select the style, the stones and the metal, and then watch while a store clerk — all of whom are trained stone-setters — makes the design a reality.

"It's like Build-A-Bear for grown women," laughs Scott, who got the idea early on when her workers would customize the colors of their own jewelry pieces for a night out on the town.

She took that concept on the road for a trunk show at Henri Bendel in New York that was supposed to last just three days. It ended up attracting lines out the door for three months, and the Color Bar became a staple.

But the shopping isn't the only thing that is experiential: Kendra Scott boutiques are event driven, with the Color Bar available for booking for bridal brunches or girlfriend get-togethers, and a Girls Night Out each Wednesday that draws fashionable crowds for cupcakes, champagne and select jewelry deals.

Kendra Gives Back parties offer opportunities for an organization to benefit from 20 percent of proceeds. Attendees, meanwhile, can gild themselves and feel guilt-free about the indulgence.

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The new Kendra Scott boutique is in Rice Village at 2411 Times Boulevard, Suite 120. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 12 to 6 p.m.

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