Umami Riot Experience · Boston · Since 2007
We don't follow the traditional rules of hospitality.
A flavor-forward hospitality collective led by Chef Tim and Nancy Cushman, where craft, creativity and soul shape every experience. From the intimacy of o ya to the joyful chaos of Hojoko, the wood-fired comfort of Bianca and the craveability of Clucks and gogo ya and the street energy of Ramen Riot, we create moments that move people.
Our story
An eight-seat omakase dream. Twenty years of proof.
Tim Cushman is a Berklee-trained guitarist who cooked his way around the world before opening o ya in a former firehouse in Boston's Leather District in 2007. Within a year, Frank Bruni of The New York Times named it the top new restaurant in America outside New York. In 2012 Tim won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast.
Nancy Cushman, an Advanced Sake Professional, built one of the country's most thoughtful sake programs and shaped the guest-first DNA of every concept since. Together they have grown one restaurant into a family of seven concepts, with roughly 200 people on the team.
The portfolio
Every restaurant is its own world.
Each concept speaks in its own voice, yet all share the same heartbeat: a commitment to detail, a reverence for global foodways and a belief that hospitality is an art form.
o ya
An intimate, celebrated omakase where tradition is honored by evolving it.
Explore the concept →
Hojoko
Boston's irreverent Japanese tavern: vinyl on, cocktails loud, food joyful.
Explore the concept →
Bianca
A modern, everyday restaurant built on wood fire, scratch cooking and seasonal comfort.
Explore the concept →
Clucks Asian Chicken
Crispy, playful, scalable: the cultural clubhouse of fast-casual chicken.
Explore the concept →
gogo ya
Fast, fresh sushi and rice bowls with quality ingredients, built for momentum.
Explore the concept →
Ramen Riot
Chef-level ramen at counter speed, with no hood required. Ramen should never whisper.
Explore the concept →
The Charles
A soulful, chef-driven tavern rooted in the rhythms of New England life.
Explore the concept →Where we fit
Proven in every kind of real estate.
Each format below is open and operating today, or under construction. A partner can walk into one of our restaurants running in a setting like theirs.
Hojoko at The Verb Hotel
A ground-floor tavern and bar that gives a lifestyle hotel its nightlife, since 2015.
Bianca at The Street
An anchor dining room with bar, patio and private dining in Chestnut Hill, since 2020.
Time Out Market Boston
Ms. Clucks Deluxe and gogo ya counters in a curated hall, since 2019.
o ya in the Leather District
A flagship people plan a trip around, in a former firehouse, since 2007.
Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall
A 675 sf gogo ya stall. LOI signed; opening 2027.
The Charles, Millis
A new building on land the founders own outright. Opening spring 2027.
Clucks street units
1,200–2,500 sf counters in college and transit squares. A Cambridge site in negotiation.
Your property
Hotels, mixed-use and new cities. Tell us about the space.
Working together
How we partner.
We fit the arrangement to the property, and we bring the whole platform: concept, culinary team, operators and the systems that run them.
Hotel food & beverage
We run the restaurant and bar as the hotel's dining identity: lobby, rooftop, pool or ground-floor with its own street entrance.
Proof: Hojoko inside The Verb Hotel since 2015.
Lease
We sign, build out and operate as tenant. Our fast-casual brands are built for compact footprints, short build-outs and high volume.
Proof: Quincy Market LOI signed fall 2026.
Management agreement
We bring the concept, the team and the operating system to a partner's capital, with fees aligned to the restaurant's performance.
One platform already runs five open concepts.
Riot OS
The kitchen runs on instinct. The business runs on a system.
Since 2025 we have built one operating platform across every concept, with AI working against our own data and chart of accounts. A new unit plugs into it on day one.
Leadership
Founders who cook. Operators who count.
Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Tim Cushman
Chef and Berklee-trained musician. James Beard Best Chef: Northeast. Every course a movement, every dish a chord.
Co-Founder & Chief Experience Officer
Nancy Cushman
Advanced Sake Professional. Curates the emotional architecture of every experience, from the first welcome to the final pour.
President
Pajo Bruich
Chef turned operator. Former VP and interim COO of Yardbird Group (eight locations, $80M+) and leader of Google's North America food program at ISS Guckenheimer.
VP of Operations
Elizabeth Billingslea
Runs day-to-day operations across every unit.
Chief Marketing Officer
Angela Wise
Owns brand and marketing for the group and each concept.
Director of Culinary
Benjamin Murray
Leads the kitchens, culinary standards and new-unit openings.
How we show up
Five brand pillars.
Let's talk
Bring the Riot to your property.
For hotel, development and leasing conversations, reach Pajo Bruich, President of Umami Riot Experience.
pajo@umamiriot.com