The owner of Goleta’s Takashi Ramen has set up an online fundraiser to raise money following her father’s stage-three cancer diagnosis, soon after launching the restaurant.

The family owned business opened at 7060 Hollister Ave., Suite 102 one year ago. 

Owner Natacha Chaiseree found out that her 63-year-old father, who lives in Thailand, had been diagnosed with stage-three lung cancer around the time she was launching her business last year. 

“He smoked for a long time, but it was like a hit in the face because we just started the business, and we spent so much money — our savings, we put it all here,” she told Noozhawk, tearing up.

Takashi is the Japanese word for strength, Chaiseree said, and she never thought she would have to channel that strength to support her family and business. 

“I never imagined I would be in a position where I would have to ask strangers for help. I have always worked hard, built my life and businesses from the ground up, and tried to handle every challenge on my own,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page.

She said she created the GoFundMe as a last resort. She has been working two jobs, seven days a week, in an effort to send her father money for his treatment, which costs tens of thousands of dollars.  

“I can’t sleep. I get up like four or five times (a night),” Chaiseree said. “I am fighting. I have to do this.”

Chaiseree spends her time at the restaurant cooking its specialty ramen and rice bowls. The restaurant’s signature dish is the Tonkotsu Chashu Ramen, which features thin-cut noodles and chashu pork steeped in pork broth.

“Goleta needs good food, Santa Barbara needs the food and real honest owners to do the business,” she said. 

When she can, she said, she calls her father in Thailand to check in on him.

“I feel bad I can’t help,” she said. “I say, ‘Dad, can you please wait for me? Can you hang on?’”

She said she even tried to sell the restaurant, but did not receive any offers she felt were representative of how much money and effort were put into the business. She said her family has invested about $600,000 into it. 

She said she wants to continue her business — a dream she’s had for years — and see it potentially become a franchise. 

“We want to keep hiring people. We don’t want to lay people off. As a business owner, I understand,” she said.

Her staff feel her care and determination. 

Spencer Clough, a junior at Santa Barbara City College and an employee at Takashi Ramen since the restaurant opened its doors, said Chaiseree is “very hardworking.” 

“The restaurant has its moments with ups and downs, but she’s always there helping us,” Clough said. 

Scout Santen, also a junior at SBCC, feels the same. She said she started working at the restaurant about six months ago.

“It’s really hard and sad to watch that happen to somebody’s parents, but despite all that, she is still a girlboss,” she said. 

Santen said that while the staff is small, they have been trying to let customers know about the GoFundMe in an effort to raise money. 

Even as Chaiseree worries about her father, she said she still manages to find pockets of happiness: “It’s when a customer comes in and they enjoy their food and then they come back,” she said. 

Besides donating to the GoFundMe page, Chaiseree encourages people to dine at the restaurant, which is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.