Today we’d like to introduce you to Dustin Campbell.
Hi Dustin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Ever since I was 3 years old I have always wanted to be a Chef and have dreamed that one day I would have my own restaurant or chain of restaurants that are well loved and successful. I went to college at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC where I achieved a AS in Culinary Arts and a BS in Food Service Management and Beverage Service. I have worked all over the east coast from Maine to Augusta Georgia as a private chef for the Masters Golf Tournament as well as a salaried Chef at Walt Disney World for 10 years. As I started having kids I realized that I no longer wanted to be working 80 hours a week, birthdays, holidays and miss my kids growing up. I left Disney and went to take on a chef job at the University of Central Florida for a sorority. During my time there I rekindled my friendship with my childhood friend, Casey Cole, who happens to be a very successful business man and lives in Japan. During the time we started talking again after almost of decade of not seeing each other I asked him if he would like to invest in a business together. Both of our dreams were to own our own business some day so why not do it together. As the thought started to become a reality I took a trip over to Japan to tour the country, eat food and learn how to bring authentic Japanese food to central Florida. We opened our doors inside Emes Food Hall in Groveland on July 22, 2025 and are finally starting to really grow in the community and make our dream a reality. We are now active members of the South Lake Chamber of Commerce, donate to various charities around the community, and recently received our 30th 5 start review on Google. We also launched our 2nd brand, Unkai sushi, just a few weeks back and we continue to grow. Our love for Japanese culture, food, and giving back to the community is what drives our success!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have struggled throughout my career to get where I am and during this journey of making our dream a reality we have had to overcome financial obstacles, changing our business model, adapting to the community and continuing to push toward excellence.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a licensed corporation by the name of Ibushi Corporation with two take our restaurant brands, Kurosumi Kitchen & Unkai Sushi, that we hope to expand into brick and mortar locations eventually. I am the Executive Chef and COO and my business partner is the CFO and President of the company. We pride ourselves on our quality food meaning that everything we make and serve is made from scratch with the highest quality ingredients possible. For example our ramen broths take 4 days to cook and perfect which sets us apart because they don’t even do that in Japan. We are also open to doing catering events for private events, house parties and major events as well. Our websites are kurosumikitchen.com and unkaisushi.com
Pricing:
- $10-30 Kurosumi Kitchen
- $7-20 Unkai Sushi
Contact Info:
- Website: kurosumikitchen.com and unkaisushi.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/kurosumikitchen and instagram.com/sushiunkai
- Facebook: Kurosumi Kitchen
- Other: https://TikTok.com/@thekurosumikitchen
