Benihana of Tokyo Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Problem Statement

The youthful president, Hiroaki Aoki of Benihana of Tokyo is considering the opportunities that he can leverage on for the future growth of the company. The main point of consideration for the president is to come up with a solution in order to develop the strategic move of the company that will help in shaping the future growth strategy for the company. Benihana is a restaurant that has established a unique point of difference by cooking the food in front of the customers and the Japanese Chefs do that quite implicitly.

benihana of tokyo case solution

Although the restaurant has been quite successful however, in order to stay competitive and to not provide any leverage to the competitors to take a step ahead, the president is lurking to develop an effective plan for the growth and expansion of the restaurant. The flow of operations is quite smooth and has been a major reason towards success,which the top heads need to sustain in the long term. Thus, the new strategy has some key points to focus upon while the newly developed strategy must also put no hindrance in the flow operations.

Expansion is the desired outcome for the company as the company needs to establish firm hold on the market by enhancing its quality and increasing the target market while also focusing on the section of advertising as well. All these aspects are the key to consider and the focus is on the development of the future strategy of the company that should enable the company in enhancing the operations of the company as well.

Analysis of Situation

Décor & Layout

Benihana is not just providing food, but is also catering its customers through the factor of entertainment as well. Although the steakhouse is famous for its Japanese Chefs cooking the food in front of the customers however, the service also includes entrainment as well. On the other hand, décor is also an effective factor that depicts the Japanese country inn which is also a strong point and a major strength for the restaurant.

The heart of décor is the Teppanyaki Table, which has some key features that attract the customers and forces them to ponder in the décor. A gas fired steel griddle plate that is also surrounded by a wooden ledge bordering, enables the griddle to hold the plates and the silverware. This table has the maximum ability of catering around eight dinners at a time which is also a significant feature of this table that enhances the factor of decoration.

Furthermore, another major factor that supports the flow of operations is the layout, which is well structured and thorough. The layout of the restaurant is quite unique and has the ability to change as per the demand of the unit or it changes from unit to unit. The president of the restaurant initiated the business by opening the first unit which primarily targeted generating sales by providing food service.

This is the reason why the layout is further supported by the simple menu of the restaurant. Apart from that, the layout is further supported and is designed by time to time and did not start simultaneously. Each unit has a different design and capacity with a different objective as well.

The Layout Design

The first unit of Benihana is situated at the west and has a bar with no lounge facility and only caters around eight people with eight seated arrangement. This was the first opportunity that Rocky decided to establish but soon he realized that this tiny bar is not sufficient for the growth of the business and a more sophisticated lounge is necessary. Therefore, while establishing the second unit in the east, the president decided to increase the size of the unit by doubling the size and added a lounge area as well.

In the late 1970s, the president decided to increase the operations and expand by opening the third unit of the restaurant as part of the Manhattan operation that is known as the Benihana Palace. The Benihana Palace also had a lounge and a bar with the design layout which looked almost similar but the only difference was the size which was enormous. This allowed the restaurant to become more attractive and cater more customers as the ratio difference in size was very huge and allowed Benihana Palace to be recognized as a standout unit....................

This is just a sample partial case solution. Please place the order on the website to order your own originally done case solution.