Benihana of Tokyo

Benihana, Inc., operator of the nation's largest chain of Japanese-themed and sushi restaurants, was founded by Rocky Aoki in 1964. By 1972, Benihana became a steakhouse with Japanese chiefs cooking in front of the customers with a various authentic food. This paper explains the unique features of Benihana and how these impact the financial performance of the company.
The first Benihana restaurant opended in Japan in 1935, and was named for the small red flower that grew wild near the front door of the restaurant. The unique features of these early restaurants include authenticity of interior décor, which is similar to the beams, artifacts, and light fixtures in Japanese home. Another feature is that food is prepared at the table by a highly-trained chef. The chefs are native Japanese who have completed a three-year apprenticeship. A third key feature of Benihana restaurants is that customers gather together in groups for seating. Complete strangers are often seated next to each other. The menu itself is a fourth key feature; it consists of three basic items: chicken, shrimp, and steak.
These features reduce fixed costs, which lessens kitchen space requirements. Furthermore, the features reduce rent and building costs, impacting the financial performance . Also, benefits included reducing customer anxiety over unfamiliar food and preparation and increasing freshness and appeal of the food in front of the customers. Furthermore, these is increased service time efficiency and lower need of total food volume. These reduce food waste for food storage space requirement to increase quality. Therefore, some of its profit comes from “typical sources” and effect of the bar and batching on profit. It appears an additional profit is attributable to the bar, and another is attributable to batching. It appears to be due to getting the chef out of the kitchen and a limited menu.