New teriyaki restaurant opens in Airway Heights

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Airway Heights residents craving Teriyaki now have another option to tantalize their taste buds with the opening of the Teriyaki Spice Restaurant located at 11980 W. Sunset Highway.

The restaurant's owner, Brian Luna-Gonzales, worked diligently for the past six months to get the establishment up and running. 

Brian's parents started the first Teriyaki Spice restaurant in Woodland. The Airway Heights restaurant is the fourth location he and his family operate. The other sites are in Longview and Roseburg, Ore.

"We've been in the restaurant business for seven years," Brian said. "My parents opened the first location in Woodland when I was still in high school."

Brian helped out the Woodland restaurant. He immediately developed an interest in taking the business to the next level. During the summer months, he increased his workload and started putting in full-time hours.

In his early 20's now, the young business owner hopes to grow the brand into an internationally recognized chain eventually. He moved to Airway Heights with his fiance' and child for the sole purpose of running the new restaurant. 

"After Woodland is when I started telling my parents we needed to open more locations," Brian said. "I started negotiating and filing paperwork to get the other locations up and running. I was the older brother and was able to communicate the business needs effectively." 

Helping his mother, Norma Luna-Gonzalez, and father Delfino Luna-Chairez achieve their dreams of restaurant ownership "feels unreal," he said, and the support in every community has been strong. 

His parents wanted to establish something their children could look forward to in life. Brian said he is there to help and support them indefinitely.

The concept of owning and running a restaurant came to his mother first while working for some friends who helped her build and develop a solid business plan. 

"At the time, it was a huge risk because we didn't have much money," Brian said. "We had other family members who supported us, and we slowly got things together. My parents put everything on the table in the beginning, and it feels good to watch it grow into this."

Brian spoke of his uncle also influencing the process. Initially, his parents wanted to start a taco shop, but his uncle convinced them to go with something more unique to stand out from all the direct market competition. That's why they decided to go with a teriyaki theme.

An essential part of the restaurant's success is secret family recipes.

Try as you might; you won't get Brian to reveal them. 

"We don't ever give out our secret recipes for our sauces and dressings," he said. "People will have to come in and try it out for themselves."