Benihana Concept

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the Benihana concept?

* Benihana reinvented the traditional date/family quality time that usually consist of a comedy show , a play , movie to a dinner table and combined the two where the both social bounding event take place around a hot plate table where the chef is wearing two hats the entertainer and the culinary expert that present succulent proteins and nutrient starches made in front of the eye of the customer with fresh ingredient , and finesse in the artisanship of the Japanese cuisine , exercised by the skillful chefs that perform/interact with the dinners while enhancing the flavors of the different items that Benihana offers .

* Benihana's concept strives on bringing the full Japanese experience to its western restaurant including its interior decor that consist of original wood and artifact that is imported from Japan and reconstructed using Japanese artisans that are familiar with the material and the authentic Japanese interior decoration , this way it transports the customer to a different dimension , and provides the full experience of what the Japanese cuisine and hospitality is all about , even the wait staff and the chefs are oriental to complete the authentication of the dining experience .

* Benihana tackled the western customer misperception of the Japanese cuisine being unusual to the American palate by introducing a hibachi style cooking that takes place right on the dinner table with fresh ingredient and familiar items ( to the Americans ) such as ( steak, chicken , shrimp , local vegetable ... ) but brought new sauces and spices that give the food the Japanese aroma .

* From a layout stand point , Benihana redefined the traditional restaurant layout that consisted of tables/kitchen and restructured its floor space to minimize the kitchen area , allocating that space to more hot top tables and constraining the back of the house as being a storage/ prep area , all the cooking takes place right inside the dining room , that is fair to say could be renamed the show/cook/eat space .Benihana reduced its waste/spoiled cost by shrinking and reducing the number of proteins on its menu to three , taking advantage of its limited kitchen space that forces the restaurant to bring fresh produce daily rather that freezing or remodeling into a special as a traditional restaurant may tend to do in order to recuperating some of its food cost due to a previous slow couple of days .

* Introducing a sense of cafeteria style dining, where the different parties up to eight customers could find themselves sitting other diners, setting the stage of interaction with other patrons while enjoying both the cooking show and the delicacies that the chefs are able to perform simultaneously.

* By bringing the chefs out to the dining room rather than waiting for the customer to make up their mind then go through the traditional routes that are familiar to most restaurant goers, eliminating a third party (server handling food from the kitchen to the table) makes the turnaround process faster and a happy customer that get exactly what he/she want without confusions that could arise in any establishment, a happy customer that is guaranteed to raise the rate of return.

* Benihana Chefs are a product of the Benihana school , where the culinary student will have to spend three years perfecting the art of Japanese cuisine "Benihana style " as well as learning English since the Chef is the point of interaction throughout most of the western customer experience .

All these steps refer to the same concept as a Job Shop where the craftsmanship of operating a machine in this case ( hibachi ) is brought forth by the chefs that can produce a variety of plates using their skills and a few tools , at moment Knowles ,where the customer places an order and the chef brings out the appropriates ingredients and utilizes the proper techniques to satisfy the order .

2. Is Benihana a successful operation? How successful?

Looking at the profit margins of Benihana operation statistics ( exhibit 1) [1], the gross profit is between 55 to 65% that is remarkable especially taking into consideration that the concept that started with a 40 seat location in 1964 to a 15 unit chain through various key cities in the US to bringing a gross of $12M eight years latter is impressive . mainly because of Rocky Aoki's vision to transform the misconception about the Japanese cuisine , and introducing a level of entertainment while dining , utilizing the floor space to seat as many customers as possible , reducing the kitchen area by 8% of a conventional restaurant to a storage/prep area and taking the actual cooking phase to the dining room over hot top tables , reducing the food cost by about 30 to 35% [1] . Introducing larger cocktail areas where the customer can enjoy a beverage by the time a Hibachi seat is ready depending on the party size allowed a beverage sell of 20 to 30% .

The best scale of measuring success is the customer satisfaction and the average customer return for a second experience , the ingredients to a good restaurant are three criteria :cleanliness/atmosphere , good food and excellent service .

* cleanliness/atmosphere : Benihana armed with its Japanese roots does comply with the customer expectation of an establishment that put sanitation in the highest level of its chart , it's so confident that they bring all the ingredients as well as the chefs to the dining room for the customer to enjoy both the level of care taken in bringing the best product as well as the show