If you think about it, it is no wonder why Sushi is so expensive. It takes a skilled artist, and it takes time to create the perfect roll. But as the story goes, this all changed in Japan in 1958, when a man named Yoshiaki Shiraishi set out to find a new way to serve customers, and in doing so found his inspiration in an unexpected place.
Shiraishi ran a small restaurant in Higashi-Osaka, in Osaka Prefecture, catering mainly to workers from nearby factories. They were employees of small and medium-sized companies, and certainly wouldn't want to pay for expensive sushi. So Shiraishi opened a new sushi restaurant with a novel idea-no chairs, meaning the customers ate standing. He was able to slash prices by 30%, and word quickly spread. The sushi bar accommodated only about 10 people at a time, but was often packed with hungry customers.
In the traditional sushi bar, freshness is the key-the sushi is prepared only after someone orders it. If the orders keep coming thick and fast, the restaurant has to hire more staff, which always means higher prices for the customers.
Shiraishi needed to find a way to avoid the extra expense. He remembered how, a few days before, he had watched beer bottles moving on a conveyor belt at a brewery. This sparked an idea-if he made the sushi and then sent it past his customers, they could choose for themselves and he could keep costs down. So Shiraishi decided to put his sushi on a conveyor belt.
But what should the conveyor belt be made of? Wood seemed best, except that the raw fish and frequent washing would rot it quickly. Iron would rust, so he chose stainless steel. The belt would go in a loop, so he had it made of thin crescent-shaped pieces of steel nestled side by side.
After four years of trial and error, the first conveyor-belt sushi bar opened in 1958. It was called Genroku-zushi. Within a few years, Shiraishi had a chain of 240 outlets all over Japan. He says, "If I can make my customers happy, I'm happy too." At this type of restaurant, the bill is calculated after the customers say how much they have eaten.People say Osaka merchants look after the interests of their customers. This Osaka entrepreneur was no exception. His idea added modern technology to a traditional Japanese meal, and spread it to different parts of the world.
© 2007 Blue C Sushi. All Rights Reserved. | Site Map