Benihana Of Tokyo
1. Unlike other Japanese restaurants, Benihana adopts hibachi table arrangement. In English language, hibachi is a small cooking grill made of cast iron. It is a form of Japanese teppanyaki cooking in which gas-heated hotplates are integrated into tables around which multiple parties can sit and eat at once. The chef performs the cooking in front of diners, typically with theatrical flair -- for example lighting a volcano of onions on fire with his fingers. The owner Rocky Aoki believes the chefs' showmanship a key attraction. The restaurant is trying to make eating part of entertainment.
First, the restaurant imports every construction item from Japan with a view to making the restaurant a genuine Japanese style. And the restaurant eliminates large conventional restaurant in lieu of stove table. Typical restaurants need a large kitchen to prepare food and then take the food out to serve customers. Normally, kitchen area occupies 30% of the floor space of a restaurant, leaving 70% space for the use of revenue generation. To the contrary, Benihana’s store design spares 78% revenue-generated dining area in proportion to its floor area.
Also separated Benihana from typical restaurants is its simple menu with only 4 food items
namely, steak, filet mignon, shrimp and chicken. Its accompaniments are unvaried. When most restaurants are facing food wastage and storage problems, a simple menu allows Benihana to reduce wastes and storage costs. And the restaurant basically serves the same food in lunchtime and dinnertime. Simple menu translates into a lower than industry-average food cost in relation to sales. Thus Benihana keeps its food costs as low as 30% whereas other restaurants’ food component takes in 35%-45% of gross sales.
In Benihana, chefs are not those hiding in the back kitchen preparing food. They are responsible for interacting with customers face to face. In other typical restaurants, waiters are...
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