Our Story
We’re Mike & Lei, the husband/wife co-founders of Nana Ai Katsu. Our daughter, Nanami, is the little boss and food critic for all our dishes. Her favorite and recommended menu item is the spam katsu musubi.
We opened up during the pandemic in August 2020 when we both found ourselves with a lot of free time. While we've always loved to eat, we are both from different industries. I've been in the technology and start-up space and Mike's been in retail and the wellness industry. It was the scariest and best time for us to start our family business together since Mike wanted to open up a food truck serving kasane tonkatsu plate lunches a few years ago after practicing this technique for years. Even when times were hard the local community came out to support us and we will never forget your kindness and love. We hope to continue our family business and grow our team for Nanami to be a big part of when she is older.
On our days off we enjoy spending time with our 2 huskies, Motsu Nabe and Panko, eating out together, and traveling to Japan.
Thank you for supporting our local katsu shop, for including us in your communities, and for growing Nana Ai Katsu from a food stand in a marketplace to a restaurant in Kaimuki!
#communitymade
Local katsu shop with the purpose of bettering our community
2023 organizations we worked with: Civil Beat, Mai Movement, Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii, Animal Education Initiative of Hawaii, Shidler College of Business, Hongwanji Mission School, Noelani Elementary, Honolulu Theater for Youth, Blood Bank of Hawaii, Diamond Head Clubhouse, The Vill Dance Company, Iolani School, Hawaii Community Foundation - Maui Strong Fund, McKinley High School Bake For Friends Club, Bottles4College by Genshu, and Hanahauoli School
2024 Organizations we are working with:
Bottles4College by Genshu
Hanahauoli School
Aloha Animal Sanctuary
Hongwanji Mission School
Blood Bank of Hawaii with Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union
Civil Beat
Noelani Elementary School
Honolulu Theatre for Youth
Hawaii Bombers Baseball Team
Nana Ai Katsu is named after our daughter Nanami and means, “Nana loves Katsu”.
Nanami’s Free Kids Library
Come and visit our free library open to all kids! Most book donations are for elementary keiki but we sometimes receive young adult books too. We also have word search & coloring sheets available.