Benihana Essay

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Operations Management Case Study Report Case: Benihana of Tokyo Contents Page No Activity Diagram Summary Strategy Initial Strategy Operational Marketing Strategy Competitive Priorities Low Cost Distinctive Service 3 4 6 6 6 6 7 7 8 2 Activity Diagram 3 Figure 1: Activity Diagram Summary When Hiroaki Aoki (Rocky) came to US in 1959 as part of a wrestling team he realized that there were more opportunities for him in America than in Japan. He got himself enrolled in the school of restaurant management at New York City College, thinking that he would never go hungry in the restaurant business. He did a systematic analysis of US restaurant market and discovered that although American enjoyed eating in exotic surrounding but were deeply mistrustful towards exotic foods. He also learned that the American enjoyed watching their food being prepared. These learning helped Rocky to open up his first unit of Figure 2: Benihana founder Hiroaki Benihana by 1963. The major problem that Rocky addressed "Rocky" Aoki from the analysis was the shortage of skilled labor which he eliminated with the Hibachi table arrangement, which required only the chef as a skilled pe so . This a a ge e t also helped i edu i g the total spa e of the Ba k of the house unit from 30% to 22%. In addition to this he reduced food storage and wastage by reducing the e u to o ly th ee si ple Middle A e i a e t ees a d as a le to ut food osts up to 35% of food sales. The instant success of the first unit helped Rocky to open six franchises within the next seven years soon after which he realized that the franchise owners were investors and had no restaurant experience which made it even more difficult for them to relate to a native Japanese staff. Benihana sells: Food and beverages Types of food served: Steak, chicken and shrimp Target customers: Business person, tourist visitors, white

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