By: Carlos Lacayo

Garry Kanfer is truly a man of insatiable aspirations. He attended school for accounting before going on to work as an accountant. From there, he spent time at a law firm called Greenberg Traurig, LLP, starting as a filing clerk and, within five years, moved all the way up to financial analyst. 

Feeling he did all he could’ve done in the corporate law world, Kanfer got into the mortgage industry and was determined to work his way up—much like he did before. He started in sales and used his previous experience to eventually run a mortgage company. 

While most of Kanfer’s career to this point was helping people and their businesses in different ways, he wanted to take things to another level. “At one point I realized I was tired of sticking to finance and wanted to create a company that helps people build brands or reimagine them,” Kanfer states. 

Enter the Big Drop 

In 2013, Kanfer founded Big Drop, a digital company specializing in development and design through customized digital concepts for brands of varying scopes. Big Drop has worked with companies such as Citibank, Samsung, Northwell and Square, to name a few. “I created Big Drop to help companies build everything digitally,” Kanfer said. “Although I learned how to deal with people in the corporate world from previous jobs, I learned a lot about coding, user interfaces and product management while building Big Drop.” 

Passion for Omakase

Through Kanfer’s journey in digital marketing, another passion was growing: his passion for omakase cuisine. “I would always go by myself around lunchtime and eat at an omakase restaurant. There was something really cool about sitting there and connecting with the chef,” Kanfer explains. “He would be able to introduce you to all of these different flavors and all of these different fish that were flown in from Japan.” Naturally, Kanfer went on to open his very own omakase restaurant called Kissaki.

Kissaki is Kanfer’s first step into the restaurant industry, offering a one-of-a-kind experience that honors traditional Japanese cuisine while taking diners on the culinary adventures that originally attracted him to omakase. 

Not long after Kissaki opened, COVID struck and the world was forced to shut down. Kanfer changed Kissaki into a take-out omakase restaurant—and the business took off. “When COVID occurred, I didn’t understand how hard the industry was. I was about 45 days in and I wanted to keep going. My digital marketing cap went on and I created to-go boxes,” Kanfer explained. “We had thousands of people waiting outside just to get those boxes.” The response from customers has been so great that Kanfer was also able to open Kamasu by Kissaki at Hudson Yards and Time Out Market in DUMBO.

Kanfer went on to open Kissaki locations in The Hamptons, Manhasset in Long Island and Greenwich, Connecticut. Kissaki is also slowly evolving; its Bowery location is solely an omakase bar, but locations like the one in Manhasset are full Japanese restaurants, offering more than just omakase.

Taking Japanese Cuisine International

Kanfer’s restaurant empire is surely growing. He is opening another Kissaki in Miami by the end of the year and is working on another in Abu Dhabi. Kanfer believes there is a market for Japanese cuisine all over the world—and he wants to be the one to take diners on the culinary journey that is so near and dear to his heart. explorekissaki.com