Conveyor belt sushi

Conveyor belt sushi (回転寿司) (also called sushi-go-round (くるくる寿司)) is the popular English translation for Japanese fast-food sushi. In Australia, it is also known as sushi train. In South Korea, conveyor belt sushi has become popular and is known as 회전초밥 (revolving sushi).

Kaiten-zushi is a sushi restaurant where the plates with the sushi are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past every table and counter seat. Customers may place special orders, but most simply pick their selections from a steady stream of fresh sushi moving along the conveyor belt. The final bill is based on the number and type of plates of the consumed sushi. Some restaurants use a fancier presentation such as miniature wooden "sushi boats" traveling small canals or miniature locomotive cars.

Visiting a conveyor belt sushi restaurant


The most remarkable feature of conveyor belt sushi is the stream of plates winding through the restaurant typically in a clockwise rotation to make it easier to grab the plate as it passes by. The selection is usually not limited to sushi; it may also include drinks in Tetra Paks, fruits, desserts, soups, and other foods. Beer can be ordered from the attendants, often served with an empty plate to keep track of the bill.

Busy sushi restaurants serve the best quality, as the sushi gets eaten faster and does not get dry while rotating for a long time. Some restaurants have RFID tags or other systems in place to remove sushi that has rotated for too long. Some inexpensive conveyor belt sushi restaurants may imitate an expensive dish using less expensive ingredients. For example, they may replace chopped fatty tuna belly meat with other fish meat. Some larger chains can keep down costs for quality food by ordering in large amounts.

Special orders
If customers cannot find their desired sushi, they can make special orders. Sometimes speaker phones are available for this purpose above the conveyor belt. If a small quantity of sushi is ordered, it is placed on the conveyor belt but marked so other customers know that this dish was ordered by someone. Usually, the plate with the sushi sits on a labeled cylindrical stand to indicate that this is a special order. For large orders the sushi may also be brought to the customer by the attendants.

Condiments and tools are usually found near the seats, for example pickled ginger, chopsticks, soy sauce, and small dishes for the soy sauce. Wasabi may be either at the seat or on the conveyor belt. Self-served tea and ice water is usually complimentary, with cups stacked on a shelf above the conveyor belt and teabags or green tea powder in a storage container on the table. There is also a hot water faucet at the tables to make tea. On the shelves are usually wet paper towels and plastic boxes to store sushi for take-out customers.



Billing
The bill is calculated by counting the number and type of plates of the consumed sushi. Plates with different colors, patterns, or shapes have different prices, usually ranging from 100 yen to 500 yen. The cost of each plate is shown on signboards or posters in the restaurant. In general, cheap items come on plain plates, and the level of plate decoration is related to the price. The most expensive items tend to come on gold colored plates. Expensive items may be placed on two plates, with the price being the sum of the prices of the individual plates. Some conveyor belt sushi restaurant chains, such as Kappa Sushi or Otaru Zushi, have a fixed price of 100 yen for every plate. This is similar to the phenomenon of 100-yen shops. A button above the conveyor belt can be used to call the attendants to count the plates. Some restaurants have a counting machine where the customer drops the plates to be counted automatically.

Targeted customers
Conveyor belt sushi restaurants are often frequented by value-minded consumers and those who may not have time for a leisurely meal. They are popular among foreigners and families with children: No Japanese language skills are needed to read a menu or to order, and there is no danger of leftover food for small eaters or remaining appetite for big eaters due to the endless supply of small portions.

History
Conveyor belt sushi was invented by Yoshiaki Shiraishi (1914–2001), who had problems staffing his small sushi restaurant and had difficulties managing the restaurant by himself. He got the idea of a conveyor belt sushi after watching beer bottles on a conveyor belt in an Asahi brewery. After five years of development, including the design of the conveyor belt and the speed of operations, Shiraishi opened the first conveyor belt sushi Mawaru Genroku Sushi in Osaka in 1958, eventually expanding to up to 250 restaurants all over Japan. However, by 2001, his company had just 11 restaurants. Shiraishi also invented a robotic sushi, served by robots, but this idea has not had commercial success.

Initially in a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, all customers were seated to face the conveyor belt, but this was not popular with groups. Subsequently, tables were added at right angles to the conveyor belt, allowing up to six people to sit at one table. This also reduced the length of conveyor belt needed to serve a certain number of people.

A conveyor belt sushi boom started in 1970 after a conveyor belt sushi restaurant served sushi at the Osaka World Expo. Another boom started in 1980, when eating out became more popular, and finally in the late 1990s, when inexpensive restaurants became popular after the burst of the economic bubble. Recently, Akindo Sushiro became the most famous brand in 2010 in Japan.

A new variant of conveyor belt sushi has a touch screen monitor at every table, showing a virtual aquarium with many fish. The customer can order the sushi by touching the type of fish, which then is brought to the table by conveyor belt. An example of this can be seen at the Fugu Restaurant at Eureka Tower, Melbourne.

In recent times, the conveyor belt sushi has inspired the creation of conveyor belt dim sum.