MonsterHibachi: Testing the Waters in a Smoky Industry

In the independent developer community, nearly everyone has been discussing SaaS, AI packaging, and purely digital products over the past two years.

The mainstream narrative is “Where the code is, there you are.”

However, the project I just launched is a Hibachi home service dining website. It involves sending a teppanyaki chef to the customer’s home to provide service.

What is MonsterHibachi

In simple terms: users select the time, number of guests, and menu on the website, place an order with a deposit, and on the agreed day, a Hibachi chef arrives at the customer’s home, setting up a portable grill in the living room or backyard, cooking while performing.

Although I am a teppanyaki chef, I certainly can’t handle everything by myself. Fortunately, I have a friend who has resources to provide teppanyaki chefs across the U.S.

I am responsible for the website, traffic, and customer acquisition—essentially the online side. My friend handles the actual delivery, performing, and cooking—essentially the offline side.

It’s a straightforward division of labor.

I Needed Three Things to Jump In

If you were to ask me about starting a Hibachi dining website based on any one of these three aspects, I would say no.

First: My friend can handle delivery.

What independent developers fear most is not writing code, but “what happens after the orders come in.” My friend directly solves this part. I don’t need to hire chefs, manage schedules, deal with equipment, or handle customer disputes about taste—none of that is my responsibility.

Second: I have personally done home services a few times.

Out of interest, I have gone to a few events and stood behind the grill cooking for a group of people.

Performing tricks, playing with fire, making onion volcanoes—I’ve done all of that.

I am not basing my understanding of this industry on “watching YouTube + reading market analysis reports.” I have personally stood in that position and know what customers like and dislike, how many events a chef can handle in one night, how much smoke is generated, and how long it takes to clean up.

Third: I have over a decade of experience in the internet industry and understand online customer acquisition.

And this is precisely the weakest link in this industry.

Without any one of these three elements, I wouldn’t have pursued this. With all three in place, we have Monster Hibachi.

Customer Acquisition in This Industry is Stuck in the Past

After conducting competitive research, my biggest takeaway is: this is an industry that has been left behind by the times.

The majority of home Hibachi players rely on customer acquisition methods such as:

• Listing on Google Maps and Yelp
• Aggressively running Google Ads / Facebook Ads
• Relying on word-of-mouth from existing customers and appearances on Instagram

That’s it.

Many things that could or should be done are not being done. I won’t go into detail about what those areas are because I don’t want to reveal my business secrets.

It’s not that existing players aren’t trying hard—it’s just that I feel online customer acquisition could be done much better.

The Honest Part: I Wouldn’t Have Done This If I Weren’t Unemployed

I have to admit—this is not a project I “dreamed” of.

I previously had an offer that was later rescinded. I was supposed to be in the process of applying for my next job during this time. If I hadn’t lost my job, with my regular 9-to-5 schedule, I likely wouldn’t have pursued Monster Hibachi.

Not because it isn’t worth doing, but because it requires a continuous, focused time window, which I didn’t have while working.

Being unemployed provided me with that window. My friend had already been running this, and I had previously helped him brainstorm traffic ideas, but I never had the chance to actually take action. This time, I was able to seamlessly take it over.

As I mentioned in my earlier post one running while the other runs for me—this isn’t an all-in story; it’s a story of “the opportunity just happened to align.”

It’s also not an attempt to gamble my livelihood. It’s simply a chance to validate something during a period of unemployment.

If it works out, I might apply for fewer jobs. If it doesn’t, the only loss is a few weeks of this interim period.

What Independent Developers Overlook

Our group naturally prefers purely digital products. The reasons are straightforward:

• Repeatable (the cost of selling one versus selling ten thousand is nearly the same)
• Scalable (not limited by geography)
• High margins (marginal costs approach zero)
• No need for interaction (no on-site presence, no coordination with offline personnel)

However, after a long preference for this, we develop a blind spot: we tend to overlook traditional service industries that are “already running offline but are severely inefficient online.”

These industries share common characteristics:

• Genuine and ongoing demand (no need to educate the market)
• Existing players’ customer acquisition methods are severely underestimated (you have a dimensional advantage)
• There are people who can handle delivery (you don’t need to build a team from scratch)
• Prices are not low (you can succeed without massive traffic)

Hibachi is not the only one. Wedding services, pet care, moving, home cleaning, at-home massage, at-home haircuts, children’s parties… such industries are everywhere.

They may not be glamorous. But they share a common trait: they have already been successfully running offline; they just need someone who understands the online aspect to join in.

For someone with an internet background who is currently unemployed, this represents a severely underestimated opportunity. Compared to starting a new SaaS from scratch, finding an “inefficient industry that is already running + where you have an asymmetric advantage” might actually be easier.

Testing the Waters

I don’t know if Monster Hibachi will take off.

It might become a stable small business in my friend’s area. It could expand into multiple cities and become a small platform with several chefs. Or it might not take off at all, ultimately just providing me with an experience during this period of unemployment.

I haven’t thought too far ahead. I just feel that the three elements have come together in a rare way, so let’s test the waters.

Getting in the game is far more informative than just watching others play. Moreover, this time, I even got to hold the spatula.