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Benihana history
Benihana company history timeline
The company was founded in 1964 on West 56th Street in New York City by 25-year-old Hiroaki Aoki, the father of Steve Aoki and Devon Aoki.
But things turn around in 1965 after Benihana receives a rave review from the New York Herald Tribune’s own Clementine Paddleford.
In 1968, it opened its first restaurant outside of New York City in Chicago.
In 1972, the company grossed $12 million and the Harvard Business School selected Benihana of Tokyo as a case study of an entrepreneurial success story.
By 1972, there were six Benihana locations in the United States, with more opening every day.
In 1976, Aoki brought in consultant Hardwicke Companies (its founder Charles H. Stein was the original developer of Six Flags Great Adventure as well as operated various New York restaurants including Tavern on the Green) as a partner to run the company.
In 1982, Benihana National Corporation went public with Joel Schwartz as president.
One of Aoki's new concepts was Benihana National Classics, a line of Chinese gourmet frozen foods, introduced in 1984 and sold in supermarkets.
In 1985, Benihana National opened its first seafood restaurant, The Big Splash, just north of Miami.
The seafood restaurants soon experienced difficulty, however, registering losses of $2.7 million during 1987.
The company closed its Big Splash outlets in March 1988.
The 1988 fiscal year was a hard one for Benihana, as the company recorded a loss of nearly $7 million.
By the end of fiscal 1989, the publicly owned Benihana National Corp. reported profits of some $1.8 million on sales of $34 million at its 20 restaurants, with Aoki's privately-held Benihana of Tokyo taking in similar revenues.
Schwartz had been refining this format since 1989 as an alternative to the company's more common free-standing, special use restaurant buildings.
As Marilyn Alva reported in a 1992 Restaurant Business article, the shareholders claimed Aoki and his management team were in a conflict of interest by managing the two companies.
Soon afterwards, in 1993, the Atlanta Benihana of Tokyo restaurant added an 18-seat sushi bar and 35-seat Karaoke dining room to draw more customers on weekday nights.
In 1995, the company acquired 17 restaurants from Benihana of Tokyo.
Sales: $81.6 million (fiscal year ending March 31, 1996)
Early in 1996, in an effort to gain a larger share of the ethnic market, the company launched Spanish-language television advertisements in Miami and Los Angeles.
During 1996, it also signed leases for several more Benihana Grills and expanded its franchise operations, including restaurants in Bogota, Columbia, and Aruba, Netherlands Antilles.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? Rocky’s reign comes to an abrupt end when he pleads guilty to insider trading in 1999 and has to give up control of the company.
In 2004, the company issued a class of preferred stock to BFC Financial corporation to renovate its restaurants and expand.
Aoki died in 2008 at the age of 69.
Benihana agreed in 2012 to be purchased by the private equity firm of Angelo Gordon & Company for $296 million.
On February 5, 2014, the Board of Directors of Benihana Inc. named Steve Shlemon the company's new President and Chief Executive Officer.
In 2016, Benihana Inc. named Thomas J. Baldwin CEO and president.
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Benihana competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hilltop Steak House | 1961 | $20.0M | 30 | - |
| Saltgrass Steak House | 1991 | $690.0M | 15,000 | - |
| P.F. Chang's China Bistro | 1993 | $1.2B | 20,000 | 903 |
| The Melting Pot | 1975 | $180.0M | 3,000 | 115 |
| Maggiano's Little Italy | 1994 | $71.0M | 1,555 | 579 |
| Wasabi | 2003 | $81.5M | 1,500 | 27 |
| Kobe Japanese Steakhouse | 1984 | $21.0M | 212 | 5 |
| Kona Grill | 1998 | $156.9M | 2,968 | - |
| Kikka Sushi | 1986 | $63.0M | 400 | - |
| Hissho Sushi | 1998 | $17.0M | 350 | 9 |
Benihana history FAQs
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Benihana may also be known as or be related to BENIHANA INC, Benihana, Benihana Inc, Benihana Inc. and Benihana, Inc.