Sushi-ro Goes Viral, a Wave of Japanese Cuisine Specialty Restaurants Catches Fire

Issue No. 4532

Author | Restaurant Boss Insider Insider Jun

After Sushi Roar Became Popular

A Batch of Japanese Restaurants Share the Spotlight

The popularity of Sushi Roar is well recognized in the current restaurant industry. Recently, Insider Jun visited several shopping malls in Beijing and found that many Japanese restaurants are competing alongside Sushi Roar.

Not only in Beijing, but in other first- and second-tier cities, you can often see signs of various Japanese brands on the construction barriers of unopened stores. From chain brands to new brands, Japanese cuisine is increasingly “showing face” in malls.

It’s worth noting that these newly emerging Japanese brands differ in business approach from the traditional “big and comprehensive” Japanese restaurants. They narrow their product lines, focusing only on a core category, with store formats resembling “specialty shops.”

Under this more focused strategy, niche competition centered around Japanese cuisine is beginning to take shape.

＞Sukiyaki Specialty Stores

The first Beijing branch of Niu New Sukiyaki is about to open. Against the backdrop of rising Japanese cuisine popularity, the brand has already attracted attention on social media platforms.

In fact, before entering Beijing, Niu New Sukiyaki had already gained a certain reputation in several cities.

Recently, the brand opened its first Master store in Shanghai: some areas are partitioned with glass for privacy; it also features “i-friendly seats” and incorporates youthful details like Crayon Shin-chan themed TVs. Customers can also use Dior perfumes in the fragrance zone when leaving.

From a broader industry perspective, the sukiyaki category is gradually moving toward branding and chain expansion.

Niu New is one of the brands expanding rapidly, opening about 30 new stores in the past year, bringing the total to around 186 nationwide. Meanwhile, other sukiyaki brands are also growing quickly: Niu You has about 86 stores, and Yiqi about 89. Most of these brands have an average per-person spend around 170 yuan, forming the “first echelon” in the sukiyaki track.

These types of sukiyaki stores emphasize quality and experience. For example, the new brand HIGH SUKI and Gyū Sukiyaki Specialty Store near Insider Jun’s company focus on high-quality wagyu beef, with Kansai-style sukiyaki as the core, designed with Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

＞Japanese Hamburger Specialty Stores

Within the Japanese cuisine niche, Japanese hamburger steak specialty stores are also a very prominent and popular category.

Most of these stores in China are located in mall food courts. On one hand, malls have steady foot traffic, suitable for quick-turnover casual dining; on the other hand, open kitchens and live cooking add visual appeal, making queues more likely in mall environments.

Among them, Meat Meat Rice, which champions “mall queue king,” is undoubtedly a leading player in this niche. Currently, Meat Meat Rice has about 67 stores nationwide, with 46 opened last year alone, showing rapid expansion.

Although there are fewer stores than Meat Meat Rice, similar models have appeared in various cities, such as Beijing’s Ichiban Meat Rice, Suzhou’s Meat Tower & Meat Meat Rice, and Changchun’s Meat Rice.

In Beijing and Shanghai, KAIFINE Kaifan, which emphasizes “restoring the warm taste of home-cooked Japanese meals,” is built around freshly ground Australian wagyu beef for their hamburgers.

＞Tempura Specialty Stores

Since last year, a number of tempura specialty stores have opened in first-tier cities like Beijing and Guangzhou. These stores typically keep per-person spending around 80 yuan, with brands like Tiantian, Hakata Tenichi, Asaya, and Tenki frequently appearing.

These stores almost all focus on tempura, with simple and clear menus: a few fixed sets, with some à la carte options. Dishes are served in three stages to ensure hot food, and rice and miso soup are often refillable, enhancing value.

Take Tiantian Tempura as an example: a relatively new brand with six stores across Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou, with prices mostly under 100 yuan, targeting young mall shoppers.

Another early-established brand, Hakata Tenichi, has about 11 stores nationwide. In 2025, the number of stores is expected to grow significantly, with rapid expansion in multiple cities to leverage the current Japanese cuisine boom.

In Beijing, there’s also Asaya Tempura, located opposite Sushi Roar, jokingly called “Originally came for Sushi Roar, but left because of the long line.” Currently, it has two stores in Beijing, with one more in planning.

Japanese Cuisine Specialty Stores with an Average Spend of 70 Yuan

Rewriting Mall Dining

These Japanese specialty stores have features better suited to current consumption rhythms.

Compared to traditional models with dozens of dishes and per-person bills of two or three hundred yuan, these new brands resemble “fast-food Japanese cuisine”: single-category, affordable prices, front kitchen cooking, clear set menus, lightweight store models, reducing decision fatigue and fitting the fast-paced mall dining environment.

1. Focused on set meals, minimal SKUs to reduce operating costs

Traditional Japanese restaurants often pursue “comprehensive” menus, with hundreds of SKUs ranging from sushi, sashimi, tempura, grilled items, to sukiyaki. This complexity demands high kitchen skills and supply chain requirements.

In contrast, these new Japanese stores sell only one product category, with very few SKUs, and highly standardized kitchens. This improves bargaining power in procurement and speeds up order fulfillment for individual diners.

Most of these stores sell set meals.

For example, Tiantian Tempura’s menu is very simple: tempura set for 58 yuan, customizable set for 78 yuan, and a luxury set for 88 yuan. Meat Meat Rice offers three main rice dishes and five side dishes, averaging 48 yuan.

The benefits are clear: first, simplified supply chain with fewer ingredients, more stable procurement; second, higher kitchen efficiency with standardized processes; third, lower operating costs with less inventory and waste.

2. Tapping into the “solo dining” trend

In recent years, “solo dining” has evolved from an occasional need into a stable and large consumer scene. According to the “2025-2030 China Solo Dining Economy Industry Development and Outlook Report” by Zhongyan Puhua Industry Research Institute, the “solo dining” economy is expected to surpass 1.8 trillion yuan by 2025, with a CAGR of 15.3%.

This trend aligns well with these Japanese specialty stores. Unlike traditional restaurants designed for group dining, these stores focus on “solo” experiences through space design and product offerings. They often feature bar-style layouts with individual seats, making solo dining more comfortable and natural.

For example, Meat Meat Rice’s 27-centimeter distance between bar seats is precisely calculated to maintain social boundaries—enough space to avoid awkwardness but close enough for a sense of connection. This physical boundary responds to the increasing demand for personal space among urban workers.

3. The performative aspect of front-kitchen service to offset “industrialized dining” feel

Insider Jun previously wrote about how front-kitchen models have spread from high-end Japanese cuisine to Chinese, fast food, and snack sectors. In these new Japanese stores, front counters are almost standard.

This “performative” cooking process is part of the restaurant’s value. When chefs cook, grill, fry, and plate in front of customers, and sometimes interact, the dining experience becomes more engaging and appealing to young people. Compared to just self-service or simple ordering, this increases participation and atmosphere.

Especially in solo dining scenarios, this is crucial.

When customers’ attention is drawn to the cooking process, the loneliness of eating alone diminishes, replaced by a sense of participation and immersion. That’s why open kitchens and front counters are increasingly common in these Japanese stores.

Using “Big Single-Item” Thinking for Japanese Cuisine

Is It Feasible?

The shift from “comprehensive Japanese restaurants” to “specialty stores” is one of the most notable evolutions in China’s Japanese cuisine market in recent years.

Once, walking into a Japanese restaurant meant a menu with sashimi platters, teppanyaki, hand-rolled sushi, ramen, and even some modified Korean stone pot rice dishes. This “big and comprehensive” model was the standard when Japanese cuisine first entered the mainstream as “luxury food,” with Akasaka-tei and Munsui Sushi as typical examples.

At its peak, Akasaka-tei operated over 40 direct stores nationwide, focusing on premium wagyu beef, covering yakiniku, teppanyaki, sushi, sashimi, with over 100 SKUs. But in 2024, Akasaka-tei, a high-end Japanese brand, was reported to have closed many stores, with outlets in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou shutting overnight.

As the comprehensive Japanese restaurant model declines, specialty stores are rising.

This transition from “big stew” to “big single-item” is reminiscent of how restaurants like pickled fish or crayfish quickly gained popularity with a focus on one signature dish. Industry veteran and insider Jun contributor Zhai Bin believes, “To some extent, this is using Chinese restaurant thinking for Japanese cuisine.”

Another reason is the change in consumer perception.

Initially, many customers had vague impressions of Japanese cuisine, so restaurants relied on large menus to meet various imagined needs and to educate the market.

Now, consumers’ understanding of Japanese cuisine has matured, with many developing clear preferences. Under these circumstances, specialty stores are more easily accepted because they offer a more focused and authentic product experience.

Zhai Bin believes that a successful Japanese specialty store typically has several key elements.

First, high recognition of the category, such as tempura, sukiyaki, or hamburger steak, which are both Japanese labels and relatively easy for Chinese consumers to understand. Second, a strong scene experience—whether through front-kitchen cooking, segmented serving, or teppanyaki—reinforcing the “freshly made and eaten” experience. At the same time, adding ritualistic elements like live cooking or staged serving enhances perceived value. Lastly, prices should be kept affordable, generally between 70 and 150 yuan per person, balancing quality and affordability for young consumers.

Compared to traditional high-end Japanese restaurants, which often seem expensive due to environment and positioning, these specialty stores lower the psychological barrier. The actual price difference for individual items may not be large, but the overall dining experience creates a different perception of value.

In summary, Japanese specialty stores are not about shrinking business but about deepening the moat. In an age of information overload, clarity is more important than richness, and focus is more professional than breadth.

Summary

The category momentum brought by Sushi Roar’s explosion has, to some extent, spilled over into the entire Japanese cuisine track. The renewed consumer interest and the cultivation of new dining habits—many who previously rarely ate Japanese food are now visiting Japanese restaurants—have created opportunities for a batch of Japanese specialty stores.

However, the limitations of the specialty store model are also evident.

For big single-product stores, repeat purchase rate remains a challenge. When a store focuses on one core product, initial curiosity is high, but long-term choice fatigue can set in.

Moreover, the depth of Japanese cuisine itself is limited. There aren’t many categories that can be independently spun off into specialty stores, and further segmentation space is not particularly large.

How to continuously create freshness may become the next key challenge for these stores.

Chief Editor | Dai Lifen

Visuals & Illustrations | Zhang Jinying

Operations | Snow Cone