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Benihana (restaurant)
Encyclopedia
Benihana is a Doral
, Florida
-based (suburb of Miami, Florida
) American
company that owns or franchises
116 Japanese cuisine
restaurants around the world including its flagship Benihana Teppanyaki brand as well as the Haru (fusion cuisine
), and RA Sushi
restaurants.
The company was founded in 1964 on West 56th Street in New York City
by 25-year-old Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki
.
Aoki, a wrestler who had qualified for but did not attend the 1960 Summer Olympics
started the restaurant with $10,000 earned from driving an ice cream truck in Harlem
. The first restaurant, Benihana of Tokyo
, was named for the red Safflower
that was the name for the coffee shop owned by his parents in Tokyo.
Aoki's concept was for the meals to be theatrically prepared by a knife-wielding, joke-telling chef at a teppanyaki
table surrounded by a wooden eating surface in front of the guests (Teppan meaning "steel grill" or "griddle" and yaki meaning "grilled", "broiled", and "fried"). It initially did not do well until early 1965 when Clementine Paddleford
of the New York Herald Tribune
gave it a rave review. The Beatles
and Muhammad Ali
were among the celebrities who then descended on the four-table restaurant.
Within a year Aoki opened a bigger restaurant that featured Samurai
armour, heavy wooden ceiling beams and sliding Shoji
screens to provide some privacy.
In 1968 it opened its first restaurant outside of New York City in Chicago
.
Aoki brought in consultant Hardwicke Companies (its founder Charles H. Stein was the original developer of Six Flags Great Adventure
and also operated various New York restaurants including Tavern on the Green
) as a partner to run the company in 1976. Aoki terminated the relationship in 1980 and settled a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint of insider trading
of Hardwicke stock.
In 1982 Benihana National Corporation went public with Joel Schwartz as president. Some of the restaurants continued to be privately owned by Aoki. The company had some missteps including the opening of the upscale Big Splash restaurant and a frozen foods division Benihana National Classics. Its stock dived and shareholders sued over management including the fact that Aoki still had his privately held restaurants of the same name.
In 1995 all of the Benihana Restaurants were consolidated under Benihana Inc.
The company has since expanded by purchasing the Haru and RA Sushi restaurants, which operate under those names. Haru is based in New York City; RA has locations across the country, and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, with its original four locations scattered around the greater Phoenix area. Although Benihana owns these concepts, they are independently operated and were developed autonomously. It also acquired the Samurai and Kyoto restaurants which it has incorporated into its other brands.
In 2004 the company issued stock to renovate its restaurants and expand. The stock diluted Aoki control of the chain and the family sued. However, the Delaware Court of Chancery has upheld the decision.
Benihana's famous figural "tiki mugs
" for exotic cocktails, the most common of which depicts "Hotei
" a chubby buddha-like figure with arms raised in the air, have become collectible.
Founder Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki died in 2008 at the age of 69.
In 2009 Richard C. Stockinger became chief executive to replace Joel A. Schwartz, and in 2010 became president as Juan C. Garcia resigned.
Doral, Florida
Doral is a city located in north-central Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. A suburb of Miami, it lies north-west of Miami International Airport. It takes its name from the famous golf and spa resort located within its municipal boundaries. The Doral Golf Resort & Spa was originally built...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
-based (suburb of Miami, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
) American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
company that owns or franchises
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
116 Japanese cuisine
Japanese cuisine
Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes throughout Japan. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun rule...
restaurants around the world including its flagship Benihana Teppanyaki brand as well as the Haru (fusion cuisine
Fusion cuisine
Fusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions while not being categorized per any one particular cuisine style, and can pertain to innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s.-Categories and types:...
), and RA Sushi
Sushi
is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...
restaurants.
History
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
by 25-year-old Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki
Hiroaki Aoki
, known in the United States by the Anglicized name Rocky Aoki, was an Olympic wrestler, the founder of the Benihana chain of "Japanese Steakhouse" restaurants, entrepreneur, and thrillseeker.- Biography :...
.
Aoki, a wrestler who had qualified for but did not attend the 1960 Summer Olympics
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held from August 25 to September 11, 1960 in Rome, Italy...
started the restaurant with $10,000 earned from driving an ice cream truck in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. The first restaurant, Benihana of Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, was named for the red Safflower
Safflower
Safflower is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds. Plants are 30 to 150 cm tall with globular flower heads having yellow, orange or red flowers. Each branch will usually have from one to five flower heads...
that was the name for the coffee shop owned by his parents in Tokyo.
Aoki's concept was for the meals to be theatrically prepared by a knife-wielding, joke-telling chef at a teppanyaki
Teppanyaki
is a style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word teppanyaki is derived from teppan , which means iron plate, and yaki , which means grilled, broiled or pan-fried...
table surrounded by a wooden eating surface in front of the guests (Teppan meaning "steel grill" or "griddle" and yaki meaning "grilled", "broiled", and "fried"). It initially did not do well until early 1965 when Clementine Paddleford
Clementine Paddleford
Clementine Paddleford was an American food writer active from the 1920s through the 1960s, writing for several publications, including the New York Herald Tribune, the New York Sun, The New York Telegram, Farm and Fireside, and This Week magazine...
of the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
gave it a rave review. The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
were among the celebrities who then descended on the four-table restaurant.
Within a year Aoki opened a bigger restaurant that featured Samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
armour, heavy wooden ceiling beams and sliding Shoji
Shoji
In traditional Japanese architecture, a shōji is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a lattice of wood or bamboo...
screens to provide some privacy.
In 1968 it opened its first restaurant outside of New York City in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Aoki brought in consultant Hardwicke Companies (its founder Charles H. Stein was the original developer of Six Flags Great Adventure
Six Flags Great Adventure
Six Flags Great Adventure is a theme park in Jackson Township, New Jersey, owned by Six Flags Entertainment Corp., the world's largest amusement park corporation...
and also operated various New York restaurants including Tavern on the Green
Tavern on the Green
Tavern on the Green was a privately owned American cuisine restaurant located in Central Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in New York City. It remained in operation from 1934 to 2009 under various owners...
) as a partner to run the company in 1976. Aoki terminated the relationship in 1980 and settled a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint of insider trading
Insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...
of Hardwicke stock.
In 1995 all of the Benihana Restaurants were consolidated under Benihana Inc.
The company has since expanded by purchasing the Haru and RA Sushi restaurants, which operate under those names. Haru is based in New York City; RA has locations across the country, and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, with its original four locations scattered around the greater Phoenix area. Although Benihana owns these concepts, they are independently operated and were developed autonomously. It also acquired the Samurai and Kyoto restaurants which it has incorporated into its other brands.
In 2004 the company issued stock to renovate its restaurants and expand. The stock diluted Aoki control of the chain and the family sued. However, the Delaware Court of Chancery has upheld the decision.
Benihana's famous figural "tiki mugs
Tiki mugs
Tiki mugs are ceramic drink ware originating in mid-century American tiki bars and tropical themed restaurants, believed to have been pioneered by Don the Beachcomber....
" for exotic cocktails, the most common of which depicts "Hotei
Hotei
Budai , pronounced Hotei in Japanese, Bố Đại in Vietnamese, is a Chinese folkloric deity. His name means "Cloth Sack," and comes from the bag that he is conventionally depicted as carrying. He is usually identified with Maitreya Buddha, so much so that the Budai image is one of the main forms in...
" a chubby buddha-like figure with arms raised in the air, have become collectible.
Founder Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki died in 2008 at the age of 69.
In 2009 Richard C. Stockinger became chief executive to replace Joel A. Schwartz, and in 2010 became president as Juan C. Garcia resigned.
Lawsuit
On January 30th 2011, Benihana (Kuwait) filed a defamation lawsuit against a blogger for writing about his experience on his website. The lawsuit also raised questions by many bloggers in the Middle East, as the Manager of Benihana Kuwait (Mike Servo) stereotyped Lebanese customers by asking the blogger if he was Lebanese.International locations
Currently, Benihana is present in 17 countries.| North America | Europe | South America | Asia | Oceania |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aruba Aruba Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula... Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... El Salvador El Salvador El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America... Panama Panama Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The... Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles... United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
Romania Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea... Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects... United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... Slovakia Slovakia The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south... |
Argentina Argentina Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires... Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far... Peru Peru Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.... Venezuela Venezuela Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south... |
Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an... Jordan Jordan Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing... Kuwait Kuwait The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the... Lebanon Lebanon Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among... Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World... United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a... Thailand Thailand Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the... |
Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
In popular culture
- The restaurant was featured in the 2006 The Office episode "A Benihana ChristmasA Benihana Christmas"A Benihana Christmas" is the tenth and eleventh episode of the third season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the thirty-eighth episode overall. It was written by Jennifer Celotta and directed by Harold Ramis...
", as well as the 2010 fourth season Mad MenMad MenMad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
episode entitled "The Chrysanthemum and the SwordThe Chrysanthemum and the Sword (Mad Men)"The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American television drama series Mad Men, and the forty fourth overall episode of the series. It was written by Erin Levy and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. It originally aired on the AMC channel in the United...
" which was set in March 1965 in the original location at West 56th Street in Manhattan that opened in May 1964. In the ChuckChuck-Engineering:* Chuck , a clamp that is part of a machine tool or power tool and securely holds a removable part, either a workpiece or a tool -People:* Charles, a masculine given name...
episode "Chuck vs. the Colonel", the character Morgan reveals his goal in life is to become a Benihana chef.
External links
- Benihana Restaurant homepage
- Benihana Group homepage
- The Japan Project: Made in Japan (American Film Foundation)