BusinessReport.com

Position: Owner

Company: Hello Sushi

What they do: Think about it for a minute

Revenue: Under $2 million per store

Next goal: Franchises in other Southeastern Conference states

Angela Finch assumed she would not follow her family into the restaurant business, thus after earning her MBA she spent a lot of time in offices engaged in office-related activities.

“I was comfortable dealing with numbers,” she says. “I was comfortable filing things.”

Thanks to that experience, Finch is right at home doing paperwork—in fact she loves it. Finch also has a knack for crossing paths with talented people, including the folks at DDK Design Group, whose innovative approach to design give Finch’s two Hello Sushi locations their whimsically distinctive look. Oktoberproject graphic design provided a logo to match.

Opening her first restaurant on Burbank Avenue in 2004 was a “baptism by fire,” Finch says, though her dad and brother—owners of Hunan Chinese Restaurant and Kamado’s Japanese Grill & Sushi Bar, respectively—helped guide her. Then there was the MBA, which helped.

With two popular sushi houses now under her belt, Finch has set her sights on a new mission: fundraising for the Magic Foundation, a nonprofit group that gives support to families of children who suffer any number of disorders, syndromes and diseases that affect a child’s growth.

Finch’s best friend’s 5-year-old son, who is best friends with Finch’s young son, was recently diagnosed with a rare bone disease. Would Finch mind, her friend wanted to know, hosting a small gathering at Hello Sushi to help bring attention to the underfunded foundation?

“I said, ‘Let’s raise money,’ Finch says. “‘Let’s do something much bigger.’”

The result is “An Evening to Geaux On,” a benefit for the Magic Foundation to take place at Hello Sushi’s Highland Road location at 6:30 p.m. on April 6. For Finch, it’s not so much about raising money for the foundation as it is a tribute to her friend, who persisted in finding out what was wrong with her son after a series of doctors failed to diagnose the problem.

“I’ve been very lucky,” Finch says. “The community’s given a lot to us. This is one of the things that I’m very passionate about.”