Benihana

1. What are the differences between the Benihana production process and that of a typical restaurant?
The following are some of the differences between Benihana and other typical restaurants:
Hibachi table arrangement – Benihana produces food from point of service through the Hibachi table arrangement, in front of the customer. This helps it in 3 aspects.
It gives the customer a unique experience where they interact with the cook and waiter rather than just waiter like in most restaurants. It helps to improve customer intimacy and adds a positive experience.
It helps in optimal utilization of space. It utilizes just 22% of their restaurant for the kitchen as opposed to 30% industry average giving more dining space.
It helps to keep labor costs to a low of 10-12% of gross sales.
Limited menu -  Food storage/inventory and waste management costs contribute significantly to the overheads of restaurant business and Benihana is efficiently able to reduce these costs by having a very limited menu of   just 3 choices.   It helps in reducing inventory. By this it was able to save 30-35% of costs.
 Decor: It focussed on interior decor and recreated the authentic Japanese ambience. The walls, ceilings, artefacts were all made in Japan. The chefs and the servers are also Japanese. Staple American food in a Japanese style restaurant with high interaction between customers and chefs is something very unique to Benihana.
Advertising costs – Benihana’s   budget is about 8 to 10 % of sales –they try to utilize original ideas rather than place ads in entertainment pages of newspapers and go unnoticed.
Located in High Traffic Places – Benihana chooses their sites in high traffic places   like central business districts with easy access to   residential areas because of their high focus on lunch   and dinner time business.
 Simple management structure – Benihana has a very simple management structure that includes a Manager, an assistant manager and 2-3 front men. 
2. Examine the...