Co-Founders

Founding Team

Chef Kazunori Nozawa

Nozawa draws on his more than 50 years of experience as a legendary master sushi chef to deliver the highest quality sushi at KazuNori, SUGARFISH, and the Nozawa Bar. Nozawa focuses his energies with Tom and Jerry on procuring the highest quality fish, leveraging his long-standing relationships with fishmongers worldwide. “Great sushi starts with great fish.”
Nozawa first earned acclaim for his award-winning, namesake restaurant, Sushi Nozawa, where he presided behind the sushi bar for 25 years (1987 to 2012), serving simple, traditional sushi of the utmost quality.

Jerry A. Greenberg

Jerry has a passion for all things food. After a successful career in the internet/technology world, his passion for food led to the creation of the Sushi Nozawa Group, the restaurant group behind SUGARFISH, Nozawa Bar, and KazuNori — The Original Hand Roll Bar. Jerry works with Tom, Lele and Nozawa to lead the Sushi Nozawa team and brings his disciplined approach and maniacal attention to detail to the group. Jerry is also a founder of several other separate restaurant companies (HiHo Cheeseburger, UOVO and Matū).

Chef Tom Nozawa

Tom’s culinary career began at Sushi Nozawa in Studio City in the 1980s, where he worked alongside his father, learning the art and science of selecting and cutting the best fish and mastering the restaurant’s signature warm rice and house-made sauces.
As one of the co-founders, Tom is responsible for all things related to food for Sushi Nozawa – sourcing and supply chain, recipes and all kitchen operations in addition to running the wholesale fish market operation. He and Lele have worked as a team to run all operations and together act as “co-chief operating officers.”

Lele Massimini

Born and raised in Rome, Italy, food has always been a passion and a part of Lele’s life, from his family’s culinary traditions to being involved in the restaurant business for over thirty years, working in restaurants since the age of 13 and holding every position both in the kitchen and the front of the house.
His love for food, his passion for bringing people joy through it, and his dedication to have the guest experience being better every day is what brought Lele to co-found Sushi Nozawa Group. He and Tom have worked as a team to run all operations and together act as “co-chief operating officers.”
Lele is also a founder of UOVO which is a separate restaurant company.

Cameron Broumand

Cameron is a Los Angeles native and a graduate of USC. After a brief stint as a professional golfer, he joined his family’s commercial real estate business in 1997. Broumand Development, the company he owns with his father and brother, manages Plaza West, a retail complex in West Los Angeles, and self-storage centers in Van Nuys and in downtown Los Angeles. As the head of real estate expansion for Sushi Nozawa Group, Cameron has been responsible since the beginning for selecting all new restaurant locations.

Clement Mok

Clement is an international award-winning designer, software publisher, app developer, author, design patent holder and a recipient of the 2023 National Design Award. A creative director at Apple in the early '80s, he founded multiple successful design-related businesses: Studio Archetype, CMCD, and NetObjects. He was the Chief Creative Officer of Sapient, a Trustee of Art Center College of Design and the national President of AIGA. Clement led all brand marketing and communications for Sushi Nozawa Group from its founding until 2023. He has stepped back from day-to-day activities but remains actively involved in the strategic direction of the business.

Yumiko Nozawa

Yumiko Nozawa has played an important role in defining the direction of our restaurants. Many know her as the affable and ever-gracious Mrs. Nozawa from the 25 years she spent managing the operations of Sushi Nozawa while her husband manned the sushi bar.

Yumiko works closely with Nozawa and Jerry on the planning and direction of our operations.

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