Behanya of Tokyo

Benihana of Tokyo

Summary

​Benihana is the Japanese restaurant chain that initially opened in 1935. After getting a success in Japan, Benihana of Tokyo made entry to the US restaurant sector in 1964, located their restaurants in high traffic places and targeted business person, white collar and tourists as customers. What Americans’ eating behavior are to eating in exotic environments and to watch how their meal are prepared. Besides, most Americans do not trust the taste of exotic foods fully. In order to keep pace with the American eating culture, Benihana brought materials from Japan for establishing a Japanese style in their own restaurants. Additionally, they offer only 3 meals which directly affected waste management, food cost and decrease waiting time for customers, and use hibachi table arrangement that eliminate the need for a conventional kitchen which caused the labor cost decreasing in overall. Furthermore, what differentiate Benihana from other US restaurants is a reason that chef is also a showman in Benihana. And these chefs were coming from Japan, and at least 3 years spent in training for teaching English language and American culture to them. Benihana faced several problems in 1970s. Firstly, they have 15 entities in the USA, and each entity had a cost of at least $300.000 as an initial investment. Besides, they need around 30 skilled staff to each Benihana restaurant. Bringing this much staff from Japan and training them for 3 years are too much investment and time for Benihana management. Moreover, materials from Japan are another money demand activity.

Solutions

​In my opinion, in order to get a strong future development plan, Benihana of Japan should start from materials that were bought from Japan. They can create a Japanese atmosphere by using materials from the USA. It is true that the environment plays a significant