Benihana Of Tokyo Case Analysis (1) 6r1z6x

Problem Analysis Statement of the Problem What strategic measures should Benihana of Tokyo take in order to sustain future growth? There are three (3) underlying management issues and challenges that we can identify in answering our main problem, these are the expansion constraints, franchising issues, which happened to be one of the ways of expansion and lastly a threat in the business’ operations model relative to the current customer and market behavior. For franchising, investors have no knowledge of the Japanese culture and the Benihana style of cooking thus eliminating the company’s core value of authenticity on each of these opened branches. In addition, most of the franchisees have minimal experience on operating a restaurant business, which proved to be detrimental to the franchise’s growth. This led Aoki to discontinue the program after years of implementing it. Expansion was also an issue due to company’s unwillingness to take the risk of borrowing from financial institution, the scarcity of trained staff and limited productivity of 2 carpenters. In operations, there was an ongoing concern on the restaurant’s limited menu variation as well as slow service option. Aside from this, cost for ment and PR is eating a substantial amount of company’s overall expense plus presence in secondary market and markets outside US is non-existent. Recommended Courses of Action: After a thorough analysis of the problem, the group was able to identify recommendations for each of the underlying management issues. Expansion Constraints 

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The company should take funds from financial institutions in order to further fuel growth. They must go public but Aoki should limit public stock offerings to less than 50% so he would still has control of the company, after all, the company has funds. Instead of going into Franchising, the company might as well develop t ventures with International Hotel companies. Through this, they would be able to reach out international market. Developing different product value proposition would also cater to different target markets. For younger generations that would opt for faster service, the company might want to establish a new restaurant operations model such as Benihana Fastfood theme where customers can dine-in, opt to take out or order thru drive-thru. Through this, the company can still preserve their original restaurant concept, which is with the Hibachi/Tappanyaki table concept.

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The company might want to create new menu variations like sushi, udon and gyoza. Allowing local chefs and staffs to hasten hiring process, thus reducing recruitment cost. All-you-can-eat concept can also be introduced in order to widen target market.