The Great Yakiniku Chain War 2024 “Is All-You-Can-Eat Still Strong?

From “low unit price and high turnover” to “customer satisfaction

The “solo yakiniku boom” that lasted for about five years is now coming to an end.

The company that ignited this boom is “Yakiniku Like,” established in 2006. The restaurant’s seats are equipped with one smokeless roaster per person, the meat is prepared in individual portions, and the turnover rate, which is 4.5 times faster than that of regular yakiniku restaurants, is outstanding. Yakiniku Like,” which was new in every element of the restaurant, successfully met the demand of the COVID-19 crisis for yakiniku for one person, and grew into a mega yakiniku chain.

However… The Akasaka-mitsuke branch closed last September, the Kichijoji-minamiguchi branch closed in October, the Tsudanuma branch closed in July, and the Matsudo-minami-hanajima branch closed in August, reducing the number of restaurants from over 100 at its peak to approximately 80 today. What is happening to Yakiniku Like?

The boom has cooled off, and customers have realized that “yakiniku is not cheap as fast food, nor is it high quality as a yakiniku restaurant. Seeking efficiency, Laiku uses a method where meat is cut at a factory and served at the restaurant, but this is not a good match for a yakiniku restaurant, which is all about the ingredients.
In addition, the increased number of items on the menu since the restaurant’s inception has made operations more complicated, resulting in a slower serving speed and turnover rate. Occasionally, some meat is served in a way that one would think it might be dry. These factors are probably behind the poor performance,” said restaurant industry producer Mitsuhiko Suda.

While “Yakiniku Like,” which was popular for its low unit price, high turnover, and stylish interior, is struggling, there is a yakiniku restaurant that is rapidly gaining strength with its relatively high unit price, almost all meat is domestically produced, and the concept is similar to a high-end restaurant where the staff cooks the meat for you. ‘ Osaka Yakiniku & Horumon Futago was established in 2010 and currently operates more than 100 stores.

The meat is served on a silver platter at a table seating four at a table with a tabletop stove. Most of the chairs are backless round ones. The décor is reminiscent of a popular Showa-era yakiniku restaurant, a stark contrast to Yakiniku Like.

The main selling point of Futago is the high quality of the meat. When a reporter visited one of the restaurants in Tokyo, the clerk told him, “Due to the Food Sanitation Law, we cannot serve raw, but our top tan shio (1,485 yen) is fresh enough to be eaten as sashimi, and since it has not been frozen, it does not have any odor! He said confidently, “Our top tongue salt (1,485 yen) is fresh enough to be served as sashimi.

At Futago, the staff will grill any item marked with tongs on the menu. The top tongue is one of them. The thick tongue was placed on a plate and grilled to perfection, and when I put it in my mouth, I could feel the crispy texture and the delicious fatty flavor directly.

Food journalist Junnosuke Nagahama spoke with the reporter as we tucked into the meat grilled by the waiter.

Even if the restaurant is not marked with tongs, if it is not a busy time, the waiter will grill the meat for you.
It often happens with chain restaurants that they rely on manuals and add too many restaurants in a short period of time, causing them to fail due to a decline in the quality of their personnel and ingredients. However, “Futago” opens new restaurants only after training personnel who can serve customers courteously and cut the beef in a way that calculates the heat and sauce involved. As a result, even though the price per customer is not cheap (about 6,000 yen), the restaurant has succeeded in attracting repeat customers with a high level of customer satisfaction.

While “Futago” is gaining momentum, the champion “Gyukaku” is facing an uphill battle. At its peak, Gyukaku boasted more than 600 restaurants, but today, the number has plummeted to approximately 520 restaurants.

All-you-can-eat parting of the ways

Gyukaku” was originally a successful yakiniku izakaya (Japanese style barbecue restaurant). It is a style of eating cheap imported beef and drinking a lot of alcohol. In other words, it was important to set up stores in locations where izakaya-style pubs in front of train stations would be successful. However, as the number of stores grew through franchise development, many franchise owners began to think, “Let’s replicate the success of Gyukaku in our neighborhood,” and forced their stores to open on the roadside. Customers come to the stores by car, so alcohol, the key to profit, cannot be sold.
Furthermore, in the past few years, due to the weak yen and high prices, the purchase price of imported beef has increased, and the price difference between imported beef and domestic beef has become smaller. Consumers are inclined to choose value-added domestic beef even if they have to pay more if there is no significant price difference. It is also significant that customers are flowing to mid-priced restaurants such as Futago.

According to a survey of 10,000 sei-katsu-sha conducted by Nomura Research Institute, the percentage of respondents who would pay for added value they like has increased from 13% in 2000 to 24% in 2009. For Gyukaku, which has long sold cheap prices, this change in consumer sentiment may be a headwind.

While the champion is in a difficult position, “Yakiniku Kingu” (334 stores) has been steadily increasing its sales momentum, making it a realistic contender to take over the throne.

Kingu is the number one yakiniku chain in terms of both cost performance and quality. Gyukaku is still the leader in terms of the number of stores, but I think it will overtake Gyukaku in the near future. If Gyukaku is a successful izakaya-style restaurant chain, Kingu is a successful roadside all-you-can-eat chain. All-you-can-eat” is, in other words, a “fixed price plan,” so whether you go with a family or a group, the psychological burden at the time of the bill can be reduced. It is a welcome addition in these times of high prices but no increase in income.
The menu is extensive, and the standard plan “Kingu Course” (3,608 yen) offers a wide variety of side dishes in addition to the famous “Kingu Kalbi” and “Jubo-zuke Dragon Harami” lump meat. Gyukaku, which shifted to all-you-can-eat after seeing the success of Kingu, offers the Gyukaku Course for 3,938 yen, so Kingu is superior to Gyukaku in terms of both cost performance and menu appeal,” said Yagyu Kyubei, a B-class gourmet food explorer.

Kingu” also surpasses “Futago” in terms of the quality of customer service, which has been a factor in “Futago’s” growing business. Hibiki Amamiya, editor-in-chief of the monthly “Kindai Shokudo” magazine, speaks.

However, robots help the staff in the hall, and the “Yakiniku Police,” as they are called, teach them the best way to grill each item. This service, which does not end when the food is served, but provides support to ensure that the food tastes good, is not available at Gyukaku.

The day is near when “Yakiniku Kingu” will become the king of the trillion yen market of yakiniku, boasting of its unrivaled quality in the all-you-can-eat menu, which is still one of the most popular contents.

From the November 15, 2024 issue of FRIDAY