THE BENIHANA STORY - History (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to Benihana's success? ›

A key to Benihana's success was its ability to create a standard product that customers would be happy with, in spite of the fact that if customers go to a competitor they get a customized product (they get to sit at a table with only their own party, they get to select from a larger menu, they may request that the ...

Rocky Aoki, who founded the theatrical Benihana chain of steakhouses, where Japanese chefs with flashing knives double as performers, died Thursday night in Manhattan. He was 69. The cause was pneumonia, said Nancy Bauer, a spokeswoman for the family. In 1964, when Mr.

Hiroaki Aoki (青木 廣彰, Aoki Hiroaki, October 9, 1938 – July 10, 2008), better known as Rocky Aoki, was a Japanese-American restaurateur, professional offshore powerboat racer and amateur wrestler.

A red safflower found in the neighbourhood streets gave the Aoki's the inspiration for the restaurant's name; 'Benihana – or 'red flower' in Japanese. The family's four sons grew up with the coffee shop, which later became a full-service restaurant.

Rocky Aoki, founder of the Benihana Japanese restaurant chain, was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $500,000 for illegally profiting from a 1993 tip that Spectrum Information Technologies Inc. was about to hire former Apple Computer Inc. chief John Sculley.

Named after his parents' Tokyo coffee shop, Benihana opened in 1964, featuring an authentic Japanese farmhouse interior and food prepared on steel teppanyaki grills right in front of customers. His highly trained teppanyaki chefs delighted customers with intricate knife work and theatrics.

While the film is based on the true story of Jordan Belfort — a New York City stockbroker who led a lavish life of crime and corruption — the scene is fictionalized, and there's no evidence that Aoki and Belfort ever knew each other.

He is of Japanese descent, the third child of Rocky Aoki and Chizuru Kobayashi. His father was a former wrestler who also founded the restaurant chain Benihana. He has two older siblings, sister Kana (who is sometimes called by her middle name "Grace"), and brother Kevin (owner of Doraku Sushi restaurant).

The type of Japanese restaurant where they cook in front of you is often called a "teppanyaki" restaurant. Teppanyaki is a style of Japanese cuisine that involves grilling or cooking food on an iron griddle, often in front of customers.

What does hibachi stand for? ›

The word hibachi means “fire bowl” and refers to the cylindrical shape of the container, which has an open top and is designed to burn wood or charcoal. Hibachi containers are made out of wood or ceramic and are lined with metal.

At some point in the past, English speakers in North America started to use the word “hibachi” to refer to a small and portable barbecue grill usually made of cast iron that featured an open-grate design. Hibachis typically use charcoal to heat food and are called “shichirin” in Japanese.

It summarizes Benihana's business strategy, which focuses on reducing costs through process standardization, simplified menus, and multi-tasking chefs. This allows Benihana to achieve lower food, labor and operating costs than traditional restaurants.

This service concept brought forth the competitive advantage to Benihana restaurant. By having chefs outside cooking; it allows the restaurant to save labor costs and offer more attentive services. The menu limitation also lowers the costs. The space was fully utilized to maximize the profits.

Benihana 's uses hibachi tables which allows them to prepare food in front of the customers . This helps the restaurant reduce their labor costs and maximize the business space productivity . Having the dining tables instead of a regular restaurant kitchen reduces the need for extra space in back of the house .

The main ingredient that is key to making hibachi at home is the garlic butter. You will notice it is heavily used at hibachi restaurants and gets added to every dish. You only need soften butter, garlic and a few seasoning to make this compound butter.