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...
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