He adds, "For example, when I brought in a venture capitalist for Wagamama in 1996, my lack of attention to details on the financial side cost me dearly in terms of the working relationship." The venture capitalist "was more corporate, and I was more entrepreneurial. At the infancy level, that's bound to clash."

Today, Yau's empire is structured more like a corporation than a small business, with his restaurants akin to subsidiaries under an umbrella company, all sharing bulk-purchased supplies and in-house marketing, public relations, and accounting departments.

For aspiring entrepreneurs, Yau sees two possible routes to success: They can gain maturity as they rise in the corporate world before striking out on their own, or they can start from scratch and learn by trial and error.

His own peripatetic nature made him a candidate for plan B. He notes that a modest background like his can sometimes make the entrepreneurial path easier, because you have less to lose, while too much education can sometimes be a detriment.

"Post-graduate programs like M.B.A.'s place too much emphasis on analysis, which can overprocess ideas and intuition," he says. "Entrepreneurialism is more of a creative process."

Yau was born in Hong Kong and at 12 moved to King's Lynn, England, a town 90 minutes northeast of London. There, his family ran a Chinese restaurant and, as the town's lone Asians, weathered a significant amount of racism. That setting fostered in him a determination to do better.

He studied politics and philosophy at the former City of London Polytechnic but left without submitting his final dissertation. After that, he dabbled in everything from engineering to interior design before rejoining his father's business.

He used the money he made from his father's restaurant to fund his research into the fast-food business, preparing for what would become Wagamama in 1992. He spent four months at a Hong Kong McDonald's learning about franchising and conducted a feasibility study with a Kentucky Fried Chicken executive to figure out how to create a simple but tasty and healthy product. It wasn't until a friend suggested Japanese ramen-noodle soups that Yau found his niche.

"People should do something they enjoy rather than focus on what market trends demand or what's hot or will make the most money," Yau says. "If you have the interest, passion, and capability, success should come automatically. Creating authenticity through the product rather than using any external marketing is much more powerful."

Just as Yau has learned to be patient with himself and his learning curve, he also gives some slack to the universe. "Another thing I learned is slightly quirky and spiritual," he says. "In life, no matter how ambitious, eager, or aggressive you are, when the timing is not right, then it's not yours at that stage. Things have to fall into place."