Hamazushi & Kurazushi Doing Well, Kappa & Sushiro Struggling… What is the “One Strategy” that Divides the Conveyor-belt Sushi Industry?

The conveyor-belt sushi chain is said to be the winner of the COVID-19 crisis among restaurant chains. This is due to the fact that they are equipped with contactless service systems such as revolving lanes and touch-panel ordering systems, which have given them an advantage.

However, the performance of each chain varies greatly in terms of how well it does or does not perform. In order to compare which chains have increased their sales due to the COVID-19 crisis, we compared the same-store sales of the four major chains in 2022 with those in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 crisis occurred, and found some interesting results.

The above is the result of multiplying each company’s announced comparable store sales YoY by the previous year’s comparable store sales YoY ratio to calculate the actual comparable store sales vs. 2019.

Kura Sushi and Hama Sushi, which increased same-store sales from before the COVID-19 crisis, can be categorized as winners, while Sushiro and Kappa Sushi, which decreased same-store sales, can be categorized as losers.

Note that only Hama Sushi does not disclose same-store sales data for the chain on a stand-alone basis, but rather data from the fast food category of Zensho Holdings (HD) Co. However, since Hamazushi accounts for the majority of sales, there should not be much difference between the same-store sales of Hamazushi and those of other restaurants.

Following this data, Hamazushi has significantly increased its sales since April 2022, overtaking Sushiro and Kurazushi to become the top winner.