I’m Norman Kai Lee often known as Chef Kai a hospitality advisor, operator, founder, and author with more than 20 years of hands-on experience building, opening, operating, and advising restaurants.
My perspective comes from personally opening and operating my own restaurants, as well as building and supporting concepts for others. I’ve worked across the full lifecycle of hospitality businesses from early concept development and site evaluation to build-out, launch, day-to-day operations, and long-term decision-making. I help restaurant owners and founders understand what truly matters early, before leases, contracts, timing, and structural risk quietly limit their options.
I began working in kitchens at 17, learning the industry from the ground up. Over time, my path expanded from the line into leadership, ownership, and advisory roles. That progression exposed me not only to the creative side of hospitality, but to the operational, financial, and contractual realities that ultimately determine whether a business succeeds or struggles.
Throughout my career, I’ve personally developed and operated a wide range of hospitality concepts across the United States and internationally. These include Suklaa Garden, an outdoor bar and restaurant concept in Brooklyn, New York; Stable House Bar & Café in New York; fine-dining concepts such as Kai’s Table in Los Angeles; nightlife and sports-driven venues including BCD (Behind Closed Doors) in Marina del Rey, California; and international projects such as Pier 9 Seafood in Burma (Myanmar).
My work has also extended to projects in Italy and Mexico, shaped by real ownership, real contracts, and real consequences.
Operating at this level provides a very different understanding of hospitality than observing it from the outside. Ownership brings direct exposure to lease structure, capital risk, timelines, landlord leverage, and decisions that carry long-term impact. I’ve navigated those realities firsthand including both successful ventures and difficult lessons and those experiences inform how I advise today.
Today, I work with restaurant owners, operators, and founders to help them evaluate commercial leases, understand where risk is hidden in agreements, and make informed decisions earlier in the process, when leverage still exists. My role is not to replace legal or financial counsel, but to provide practical, experience-driven insight that helps operators see the full picture before committing to decisions that are difficult or impossible to undo.
I’m also the author of The Art of the Lease, a book series created to help restaurant operators understand how commercial leases actually work not how they’re presented. The series breaks down lease structure, timing, leverage, and risk from the operator’s point of view, with the goal of helping founders avoid costly mistakes before they’re locked in.
All of that experience ultimately led me to launch Savrli, a technology platform built from the operator’s perspective. After years of building and operating venues, advising founders, and navigating the systems that shape hospitality, I saw how disconnected traditional discovery platforms were from how restaurants, bars, nightlife, and hospitality experiences actually function in the real world. Savrli was created to bridge that gap translating real-world ownership, operational insight, and experience-driven decision-making into a platform designed to better serve both guests and the businesses behind the experience.
My approach across everything I do is straightforward and grounded in experience. I believe hospitality businesses are strongest when decisions are made with clarity, context, and a full understanding of the trade-offs involved. Everything I share comes from doing the work not just talking about it. If you’re evaluating a lease, planning a launch, navigating a complex decision, or building something new in hospitality, I offer advisory support to help you think through the implications before moving forward.
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