We Want To Be The First To Tell You
You know who we are.
We’re the iconic pink glitter Hello Kitty staircase. We’re the ’80s retro arcade — Skee Ball, Pinball, Tron and Tetris. We’re Japanese street food — Ramen, Fried Rice Bowls and Octopus Hot Dogs. We’re sushi week — the freshest fish in Buffalo. We’re the Blade-Runner alleyway dining room with a working payphone. We’re the burnt-timber pergola patio decked out with cherry blossoms.
We’re Misuta Chow’s — and even if you’ve somehow managed to not come in for lunch, dinner, drinks or a few rounds of Pac-Man, you’ve definitely heard all about us.
We want to be the first to tell you the next thing you’re going to hear about us: We just filed Chapter 11.
Chapter 11 gives a business a chance to keep operating while it reorganizes its debts, temporarily staying creditor collection actions while a repayment plan is negotiated. It’s not Chapter 7. We are not closing our doors. We are not going out of business.
“From Day 1, the City of Buffalo has fully embraced us,” says owner Johny Chow. “We couldn’t be more grateful and humbled by the love everyone has shown Misuta Chow’s as we approach our two-year anniversary. Thanks to the loyalty of all our patrons, we’re able to run a killer bar and restaurant — a place that everyone feels welcome no matter who they are; a place where everyone has fun — and our daily operations are easily supported by the business coming in.”
The two-floor, larger-than-life experience that is Misuta Chow’s is what happens when the bassist for a world-touring, Grammy-nominated, alt-metal band and a former Hollywood TV and film producer join creative forces. Johny Chow and Christi Allen transport you to a movie-set (or two or three or 10); surround you with their love-story to Japan; and trigger your nostalgia receptors with a neon-lit tribute to the totally tubular decade that brought the world fanny-packs, bangs-for-days, and Back To The Future.
Building these moments from scratch in an all-but-abandoned building at 521 Main St. was no easy feat — and the buildout came with a hefty bill.
“We spent months scouting the right location for Misuta Chow’s,” says owner Christi Allen. “We were committed to the resurgence of downtown Buffalo, and despite the challenges that this location presented, the building was a fit, and the landlord shared our enthusiasm — and was willing to share connections and resources that seemed to be exactly what we needed to pull off our vision.”
We’re not the first restaurant to meticulously budget and seek funding for a buildout that would end up costing more than we could have anticipated. Unforeseen stumbling blocks caught us by surprise, promises made by our contracting company were broken, time got the better of us. The business took out only one bank loan. All other funding came from the owners’ personal savings and several personal loans from believers and supporters. It should have been enough to complete the buildout and open with working capital — but it wasn’t.
“The buildout cost us twice as much as was budgeted, and we opened eight months later than was scheduled,” Chow says. “And even at that point, we were only able to open the bar, not the restaurant, because the kitchen buildout had still not been completed. We were packed to the gills every day of the week for months when we first opened the doors — it was an incredible outpouring of love and support. Unfortunately, a significant amount of all that revenue still had to go to our buildout costs. We opened with no working capital. We were forced behind the eight ball right from the start.”
Despite the hardships, Misuta Chow’s hasn’t just survived. We’ve thrived — and continue to do so. If you know Johny and Christi, you know that their handshake means something. The faith, patience and support of friends, family, staff, vendors and patrons — and the owners’ devotion to staying true to their word — is what has continued to make the impossible possible for Misuta Chow’s.
We quickly became the favorite event space for holiday parties, birthday parties, bachelor and bachelorette parties, office happy hours and luncheons, baby showers, corporate retreats and buyouts. The city embraced our thirteen-hour, half-marathon karaoke days, our open invitation to march with us in the Pride Parade, our over-the-top Halloween costume competitions.
Music videos with YouTube influencers and local musicians; pink-staircase concerts with The Arkells, Yungblud and The Struts; photoshoots; international mural commissions — Misuta Chow’s is now a haven for talents of any medium.
Christi Allen made the cover of Buffalo Spree’s food issue last year; the restaurant won Best New Hot Spot in the publication’s 2019 Best of Buffalo awards; Visit Buffalo-Niagara nominated us for the Restauranteur of the Year Beacon Award; our architects won awards for the space’s design; media outlets wrote rave reviews of our food and beverage programs; and we took social media by storm — our pink staircase acquiring a brand akin to that of Shark Girl.
The owners have never stopped giving back — donations and sponsorships for innumerable local nonprofits; free meals for locals affected by last year’s government shutdown; partnerships and collaborations with artist collectives, budding local breweries and distilleries, elementary and secondary schools.
Even with the booming business and our emergence as a staple of Buffalo; not everything was unicorns and rainbows on the business end.
“We made some bad choices,” Christi says. “We partnered with an accountant that did not manage our funds properly, and she wasn’t transparent about it. We relieved her of her responsibilities and took over the books ourselves. But we aren’t accountants. There was a lot of trial and error because of that. Tax bills accrued. We took out two high-interest loans in an attempt to get back to zero, but these only made it harder for us to meet our financial obligations. We hired a debt consultant who turned out to have too full of a plate to dedicate the time necessary to our situation. We did everything we could, but were continually misguided and/or taken advantage of.”
Misuta Chow’s always made every effort to pay taxes, to pay creditors and to pay vendors. Communication was constant, payment plans were created and honest attempts were always made to satisfy debts. Progress was consistently being made, but it was slow, and then actions taken on tax debt is what made the owners realize they needed a new plan.
“No one wants to file Chapter 11,” Chow says. “Especially with a business like this that should easily be operating in the black. But we need some relief. We need a moment to breathe. And that’s what this does for us. This gives us the time and space to build the capital we need so we can reorganize our debts and create viable repayment plans, and stay true to our word with all our vendors, lenders and creditors.”
You’re going to love what we have in store for you Buffalo. We’re about to partner with a local artist to make top-notch customizable art more accessible than ever before. We’re about to take the pink staircase to the next level. Our patio is coming back. Brunch is happening. You’ll see us at all the summer festivals. We’re going to put the arcade on wheels. We’re going to continue to wow you and continue to create moments that make the hair on your arms tingle.
Chapter 11 comes with a stigma attached to it that Misuta Chow’s is going to beat. It will not be the last chapter of our story.
