Ginmi Sushiro is a chain operated by Akindo Sushiro Co., Ltd., a major company in the conveyor belt sushi industry, and its corporate philosophy is “Delicious sushi to fill your belly. Delicious sushi to fill your heart.” Headquartered in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture, we operate 645 stores, the second largest in the conveyor belt sushi industry, mainly in the Kinki, Chubu, and Kanto regions. (as of November 2023)
It all started with standing sushi
Sushiro began in 1975 when Yoshio Shimizu founded Tai Sushi, a stand-up sushi restaurant in Osaka. In 1984, he established Sushitaro Co., Ltd. and opened a store in Fuchu City, Osaka Prefecture. In 1995, we opened a store in Kawanishi City, Hyogo Prefecture with a flat price of 105 yen per plate. In 1999, the company merged with Suita Sushitaro, which had been founded by Yoshio’s younger brother, Yutaka Shimizu. In 2000, the company name was changed to the current Akindo Sushiro Co., Ltd., and the following year, they opened stores in Katsushika Ward and Fussa City, Tokyo. The following year, we opened a store in Atsuta Ward, Nagoya City, expanding into the Kanto and Chubu regions. After that, we expanded into the Chugoku/Shikoku region in 2006 (Heisei 18), and the Tohoku region and Hokkaido region in 2008 (Heisei 20). The number of stores exceeded 300 in 2011 (Heisei 23). This year, we opened a store in South Korea and are also expanding overseas.
Improve service over cost
In 2004, Sushiro completely abolished its central kitchen and switched to all cooking in-store. The central kitchen is able to reduce costs and provide stable quality, but in order to provide fresher sushi, we chose to ship freshly caught seafood directly to the store. Naturally, our cost rate went up, but thanks to these efforts, we were ranked number one in the food and beverage industry in Japan in a customer satisfaction survey released by the Service Industry Productivity Council in 2011. Ta. As a result of our high cost performance with reasonable prices and high quality, this is evidenced by our annual sales from April 2010 to March 2011. Achieved number one in conveyor belt sushi industry in Japan. The following year, annual sales exceeded 100 billion yen.
Complete side menu
Along with the freshest sushi, Sushiro also offers a wide range of side menus, and the official website even says, “Come to Sushiro even if it’s just for sweets.” Potatoes are especially popular, with a taste similar to the fries in fish and chips eaten at an Irish pub, and the word “potero” was coined to refer to eating potatoes at a sushiro restaurant. The number of customers who do so is also increasing. In addition, the curry was a big hit, even though it was not typical of a sushi restaurant. Originally released as a retort curry for take-out only, it became popular and quickly sold out. Nowadays, you can eat curry udon noodles made with this curry at restaurants, and some people enjoy it by adding some twists, such as dipping potatoes in it.
Sweets are also popular, and in addition to standard menus such as pudding and chocolate cake, they also have Japanese sweets such as Daigaku imo and matcha warabi mochi, as well as authentic sweets such as parfait, mille crepe, brûlée, and soufflé cake.
