The New Trend is “Genre Specialization” and “Small Plate Menus

The Family Restaurant Industry’s “De-Familying

The “family restaurant” may be becoming an “old-fashioned” type of business.

This was the impression of a FRIDAY reporter when he visited “Musashinomori Coffee,” located in a commercial facility in Tokyo.

It was lunchtime on a holiday, and the wood-grained interior was packed with shopping couples and students. Everyone was enjoying sweets such as “Musashinomori Coffee’s Special Fluffy Pancakes” (748 yen) and coffee in a relaxed atmosphere.

Another feature of this café is its extensive food menu. The “Shrimp and Avocado Pasta with Salt Lemon” comes with salad and soup for 1408 yen. The price is a bit steep for lunch, but it tastes just as good as a full-fledged Italian restaurant.

Musashinomori Coffee is operated by the Suikai-Laoku Group, which also operates Gusto, Bamiyan, and Jonathan. The company is known for its rapid shift away from family-oriented restaurants in recent years.

This restaurant used to be a Gusto restaurant, but we changed its business format.

Gusto” is Japan’s largest family restaurant chain, with 1,247 stores nationwide, but it has been downsizing and converting to new formats such as “Musashinomori Coffee,” “La Ohana” (Hawaiian restaurant), and “Momotana” (dim sum specialty restaurant). Retail and distribution analyst Akihito Nakai said, “Originally, family restaurants were used to be hamburgers, but they are now being converted to other types of restaurants.

Originally, family restaurants started out as general restaurants that focused on Western-style food, especially hamburgers, and they attracted family customers with their wide variety of menu items and low prices. Now, however, with conveyor-belt sushi restaurants increasing their menus to attract family customers, and yakiniku restaurants on the low-priced side also on the rise, more choices have led to a dispersal of customers. Family restaurants are no longer a staple of family dining out, but one of the many options available.

Gusto” has been struggling, raising 60% of its menu prices last November due to the still high cost of raw materials. The “Gusto Fit Menu,” which is available only on weekdays, is proving popular as a way to revive the restaurant’s fortunes.

For 990 yen, you can choose three items from a menu of 30 choices, including hamburgers, rice bowls, and desserts, and you even get soup and a drink bar. The choices even include pasta and pizza, so you’ll never get bored and be highly satisfied with your meal. The menu price increase is covered by a unique system. In addition to the ‘Gusto Fit Menu,’ we also offer a lower-priced menu called ‘Small Side Dishes,’ which is a smaller size than a regular serving.”

Bamiyan” (363 outlets), also a member of the Sukairaku Group, also has a small menu called “Chinese Small Dishes” that offers items such as “Shrimp in Chili Sauce” (494 yen) and “Black Vinegar Sour Pork” (439 yen) for less than a single serving.

Bamiyan” has an extensive alcohol menu, which is rare among major restaurants. There are lemon sours, highballs, shochu, plum wine, red and white wine, and even Shaoxing sake. In addition, you can even keep a bottle of “Iichiko” or “Kurokirishima” for 1869 yen per bottle. We also have a happy hour, and it is a rare place where you can enjoy Chinese food and drinks.

Gusto” and “Jonathan” (163 outlets) have secured steady customers by developing menus centered on Western-style food, while “Bamiyan” has responded to the demand for alcohol by specializing in Chinese food, and unprofitable outlets have changed their business format to cafes. Furthermore, last September, the SUKAIRAKU Group announced the acquisition of “Shisan Udon,” a very popular chain specializing in udon based in Kitakyushu City (Fukuoka), and stated that it would “continue to enhance a variety of business categories through M&A.”

Saizeru Gains Momentum

On the other hand, “Denny’s,” which has long been one of the top runners in the family restaurant industry, currently has 317 outlets, and “Royal Host,” synonymous with upscale family restaurants, has 226 outlets, which is inferior to even the second largest brand “Bamiyan” of the Suhailaku Group. This may be due to the fact that genre-specialized restaurants are more popular than general-type family restaurants.

Denny’s has been focusing on collaboration menus with famous restaurants at aggressive price settings, such as offering Rossini-style beef fillet steak (2,970 yen, no longer available) supervised by the chef of the famous French restaurant “Lecanque,” but there are disadvantages such as confusion in operations and difficulty in securing quality ingredients. It is not surprising that some customers would prefer to go to a restaurant that is not a family restaurant if they are willing to pay ¥3,000,” says food journalist Junnosuke Nagahama.

As the old giants are struggling, is it possible that the throne of the “Suikairaku” group, which has both “small plate menus” and “genre-specific restaurants” under its control, will remain unchallenged?

I feel that “Saizeriya” (1,038 outlets) has more momentum than “Gusto” right now. After the COVID-19 crisis, there was a rush to raise prices not only in family restaurants but also in the entire restaurant industry, but they narrowed down the number of items on their menu, reviewed their internal operations, and set prices in easy-to-understand 100- or 50-yen increments. Although it is risky to maintain prices in the face of rising material and other costs, the number of customers is increasing rapidly because prices are overwhelmingly lower than those of other companies,” said Mr. Nakai.

Another reason for “Saizeriya’s” low prices is its success overseas. As mentioned above, “Saizeriya” has 1,038 restaurants in Japan, but it also operates 531 restaurants overseas, mainly in China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Rival company SUKAIRAKU operates 3,083 restaurants in Japan, but only 99 overseas. Because “Saizeriya” has secured profits from its overseas operations, it does not have to take the risk of losing existing customers by raising prices. In addition, the company’s many overseas outlets mean that the impact of the yen’s depreciation on the company as a whole is smaller than that of its rivals, which is another reason for the company’s strong performance.

Saizeriya, the original Italian restaurant that specializes in a particular genre, has been offering a variety of reasonably priced small dishes such as shrimp salad (350 yen), spicy chicken (300 yen), and sauteed spinach (200 yen) since before the “small dish boom” began at its restaurants.

Saizeriya is expected to show an overwhelming increase in sales this year, next year, and the year after that. The company should be able to use the profits to further invest and outpace its competitors.

Perhaps with “Saizeriya” in mind, the SUKAIRAKU Group opened a new type of restaurant, “Italian Resort Pertica” last August, in addition to its 11 Italian restaurant “Gratche Gardens” nationwide.

If these two Italian restaurants are successful, an all-out war between “Saizeriya” and Sukairaku may finally begin.

From the March 28, 2025 issue of FRIDAY