July 21, 2022 “Uobei Omiya Nishiguchi Store” Grand Opening!
Genki Sushi, Uobei, and Senryo are operated by Genki Sushi Corporation (headquartered in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture), which was founded in 1968. The global company operates 179 restaurants in Japan and 214 restaurants overseas. Uobei opened its first “Uobei Kawagoe Store” on September 18, 2009. Uobei Omiya Nishiguchi Store is the 181st store opened by the group. Located just a minute walk from the west exit of JR Omiya Station, where the Shinkansen bullet train stops, the store offers more than 80 varieties of 120 yen (including tax) standard items, and also focuses on seasonal items that are in season now. Uobei is particularly particular about tuna!
The white interior is easy to enter, even for a single woman!
Uobei” is focusing on developing urban stores from suburban stores. Suburban stores tend to be large, family-oriented stores with parking lots, while urban stores pursue convenience by being close to train stations. Targeting younger customers, especially office workers and students living alone, Uobei aims to attract them by offering delicious sushi while increasing its recognition among them. Uobei has many female customers, and aims to create a store that can be casually used even by a single customer. Uobei is a place where people can enjoy delicious sushi at a low price.
The quality and volume are so overwhelming that no other company can keep up!
Instead of serving food prepared in a central kitchen, the fence is prepared in the restaurant. The best way to prepare fish is to “prepare it right by the customer’s side! Sashimi has a corner (good appearance), and the cut end is shiny (good texture on the tongue and the taste of the ingredients can be recognized). At “Uobei”, you can enjoy the artisanal skills of a chef who must cut the sashimi in one smooth movement with a long sashimi knife for only 120 yen per plate (tax included). The quality and volume of the fish is something no other company can imitate. It is a dish that tuna lovers will not be able to resist. The rice is also made from carefully selected rice and cooked several times a day. The rice is cooked several times a day. The rice is almost human skin soft and the fish is cold, so that when it enters the mouth, the most delicious flavor can be felt.
The up-coming Shinkansen “Uobei 096 (Tuna)” arrives on time.
After ordering from the touch panel, four plates of sushi arrive in about two minutes. This is the time from the exit of the Omiya Station building to the building where Uobei is located. From the ticket gate, two minutes is by far the fastest time. While traveling that distance, 4 plates of sushi, 8 pieces in total, are made and served. Is sushi really something to be gulped down in a hurry? While I was thinking about this, the next Shinkansen train arrived.
Shrimps and Prawns
Aka-ebi (red shrimp) is spread generously on top of rice. Shishamokko is added as an accent. The natural flavor of the shrimp and the vinegar in the rice create an exquisite flavor!
Shrimps are good raw, steamed, grilled, fried, and creative. It is an ingredient that changes seven different ways. On take-out menus, one often hears of “tuna dishes,” but why is there no “shrimp dishes” on the menu? I am a big shrimp lover. Here at Uobei, there are more than 10 kinds of shrimp on the menu. I had wanted to try the “Shrimp Festival,” and I was so happy to be able to do so. The more I chewed, the more the shrimp flavor spread in my mouth… It was a moment of blissful dream come true.
If you order this Matsuri at a private sushi restaurant, the chef will either refuse to serve you or ask you to leave early.
Commitment to not having a central kitchen
Uobei proudly recommends tuna. Mr. Toshiyuki Aizawa, a 25-year veteran of the sushi industry and General Manager of the Sales Planning Department of Genki Sushi says, “We cannot lose to our competitors in terms of freshness, cooking methods, size and weight per piece, and these are the only things that we cannot lose to. They prepare fish other than tuna, such as salmon and yellowtail, in the kitchen, one by one, with great care. They don’t use fish that has already been prepared elsewhere, in other words, in the central kitchen. They don’t have a central kitchen because they don’t use it. That’s because the difference in freshness is obvious. He prepares the fences and cooks the rice for the rice several times a day. He says that he never opens for business with only one day’s worth of preparation before the restaurant opens. The secret to the deliciousness and freshness of the food is to cook it close to the customers! The freshly prepared food is delivered to the customer’s hand and mouth as quickly as possible. It sounds simple, but it is extremely difficult to provide such service to all 112 customers (12 counter seats and 25 booth seats). Uobei does not rotate its ready-made products. Because it does not rotate, there is no discarding of sushi that has lost its freshness, which also plays a role in the SDGs! In other words, it is not a revolving sushi restaurant! It is a straight up-and-down sushi restaurant, where the bullet train always returns after departing.
Sushi Roulette
There is a “Sushi Roulette” in the menu section of the touch panel! Turn the roulette and participate in the game. If you hit the jackpot, you get a gacha coin, which you can use to play gacha-pon once in the restaurant.
Mr. O, an editor of Monomagazine, accompanied me. As expected of him, he had luck on his side…he hit the jackpot at the first try. He grabbed a coin and played gachapon, and got a capsule containing a tuna sushi clip, an original character of the Genki Sushi Group. This is a fish sticker that can be enjoyed by both children and adults!
The look of delight on Mr. O’s face when he got the capsule was something I will never forget.
Flexible arrangements “take-out
You want to grab a bite to eat when you get home, give it as a souvenir to someone, or tell everyone about the taste of fish bei! There are several take-out set menus available in the restaurant. But at Uobei, you can make your own takeout “sushi set” right at your seat. Following the tuna set, the shrimp set was no longer just a dream. I got a free 10-piece pack at the touch panel and filled it with Nekoyama Daikichi SP! See [Part 2] for the home fish bee.
*There are 1,646,492,110,120 combinations of 10 kinds from the menu of 80 kinds.
Toshiyuki Aizawa, General Manager, Sales Planning Department, Genki Sushi Co.
He is absolutely confident in his tuna. Aizawa’s job is not limited to tuna; he also conducts marketing research through SNS, Twitter, Instagram, and apps to develop strategies for existing and future customers, and is sensitive to their needs. He has a never-ending supply of ideas for remote takeout, one-person menus, and family-friendly offerings!
Uobei Omiya Nishiguchi Branch
Address: Homely 5 Bldg. 4F, 1-5-5 Sakuragi-cho, Omiya-ku, Saitama-shi, Saitama
Phone : 048-658-9213
Business hours: 10:40-22:00 weekdays / 10:00-22:00 weekends and holidays
Seats: 12 counter seats / 25 box seats, 112 seats in total
Genki Sushi Co.
Address: Meijiyasudaseimei Utsunomiya Odori Building 4F, 2-1-5 Odori, Utsunomiya-shi, Tochigi
Phone: 028-632-5711 (Representative)
