Kimio Bazett Brings Restaurant Background to Turton Commercial Real Estate

After establishing himself as a driving force behind some of Midtown Sacramento’s most popular bars and restaurants, Kimio Bazett is now learning another side of the business.

After feeling some burnout post-Covid, Bazett has become a commercial real estate broker with Turton Commercial Real Estate, working to help those whose shoes he used to occupy.

“It just seemed like an interesting way to engage the community,” Bazett said, adding he’d first gotten interested in real estate growing up in Stockton and seeing his parents invest in rental properties.

Stockton was also where Bazett first got interested in hospitality, with his first job in the industry washing and peeling potatoes at In-N-Out Burger.

The initial attraction was making $1 more an hour than minimum wage at the time, Bazett said. But as he moved through the ranks at In-N-Out, and then at Stockton Greek restaurant Papapavlo’s Bistro & Bar and since-closed restaurant Stockton Joe’s, he learned everything from the need for cleanliness and punctuality to being able to quickly assemble orders of salads and desserts.

“I always loved cooking and once I was in the field, I always enjoyed hospitality,” he said. “I thought the idea of making a living at it was appealing.”

A few years later, Bazett was taking classes at the College of Marin when he heard about an opportunity to take over a lease at a struggling nightspot in Midtown Sacramento.

Golden Bear, the concept Bazett and his then-partner Jon Modrow came up with for the spot that opened in 2004, was the fifth attempt at making the location work, he said. Success for their concept wasn’t overnight, either.

“A lot of fits and starts, emblematic of the restaurant business,” he said. “A lot of highs and lows.”

Four years later, another opportunity came along with partner Shawn Eldredge to rethink a restaurant space that didn’t work on S Street, near the emerging R Street Corridor in Sacramento. That became bar and restaurant Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co. A few years later, Warehouse Artist Lofts on R Street a few blocks to the west housed another concept he created: Bottle & Barlow, a combination bar and barbershop.

Each concept was slightly different, Bazett said. But five years ago, when Covid-19 hammered the bar and restaurant business for months, revenue for all of them shrank to a fraction of what it was before.

“When everyone’s just figuring it out, it doesn’t lend itself to know if you can operate at all,” he said. Though he said he can’t specify what it was, maybe a customer yelling at him about a higher price for a side of ranch dressing, he realized after the pandemic that he needed a change.

Thinking about a move into brokerage, he said, he asked Ken Turton of Turton Commercial to meet with him to explore the idea. At first, Bazett said, Turton was stunned, but he could see the gears turning on how the move could work.

Emily Baime Michaels, executive director of the Midtown Association, said Bazett was equipped to make the move because he was already involved in the community.

“You have someone who really understands how to connect with people,” she said.

Turton asked Bazett to make a spreadsheet of how his time would work. Though still part of ownership at Hook & Ladder and Golden Bear, with possible partial rebranding in the works for the latter, Bazett sold off his ownership interest in Bottle & Barlow.

With an 8:30 meeting in November 2021, Bazett officially made the move over.

Doing so gave him perspective on both sides. He said he’s learned hospitality business operators don’t realize the level of organization a broker needs: making cold calls, running down leads, giving clients updates. And brokers don’t know the technical side a restaurant operator has to think about: What kind of oven does a space have? Is there a hood? How’s the layout?

“I’m still learning things,” he said. “It’s a commercial broker, comma, specializes in hospitality.”

The Essentials

Kimio Bazett: Director, Turton Commercial Real Estate; partner in Sacramento businesses

Age: 46

Education: College of Marin and Colorado State University

Career: Self-employed since age 23; 2021-current, director, Turton Commercial Real Estate

Personal/family: Lives in Curtis Park with fiancee, Alina, and their disabled shih tzu, Gloria. “They are the absolute best parts of my daily life.”

Something people would be surprised to know about you: “I serve on the Board of Directors for Sacramento Court Appointed Special Advocates, which serves Sac County foster youth. What most people don’t know is that I was an actual CASA volunteer with an assigned foster youth (and by proxy, his siblings) some 15 years ago. It was by far the most challenging and rewarding volunteer work of my life.”

An effective business leader … “listens to their team (rather than talking to/at them) and seeks to learn from them at every turn. This is also useful in recognizing hidden talents and growth potential, in my experience.”

Passion (outside of work and family): “Cycling, without a doubt. Racing bikes, training to race, watching racing on TV, spinning around the Sac Delta with friends, and even riding to work; I love all of it.”

Biggest misunderstanding about your job: “There is a common misconception that commercial brokerage is a low effort/high-yield endeavor, and I can tell you that this is absolutely not the case. I’ve never worked longer hours in my life, and based on my conversations with Ken (Turton), this is the path to success.”

First job — nonprofessional: In-N-Out Burger in Stockton at age 16. “It taught me (mostly in retrospect) some very early lessons in the importance of systems, discipline, accountability and even grooming!”