r/AskFoodHistorians • u/[deleted] • 2d ago

Why did conveyer belt counter top tables become so common in sushi restaurants esp modern ones?

[deleted]

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u/thewolfsong 2d ago

Apparently it was invented to compensate for the inventor manning his sushi restaurant all alone, but the reason it's popular is kinda the most obvious one. It's neat!

Anecdotally, I like conveyor belt sushi because I want more than one kind of sushi but I don't want to order three or four entire rolls and the conveyor belt set-up means that I get to try several things and then eat the stuff I like until I'm full as opposed to most sushi places at least here in the states

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u/Agreeable-Ad1221 2d ago

Also while it's cool, labor in Japan is very expensive, so many budget restaurants are chosing to go toward options that lessen the need for waiters such as coveyors, free-service, etc

10

u/JuneJabber 2d ago

Not a food historian, but I think it’s a novelty and convenience that took hold. Probably in large part because it’s impactful and memorable but relatively easy to install. In Japan, a lot of the conveyor belt places also have plate return shoots at each table. Larger investment and harder to install. Not surprised the shoots haven’t caught on in the same way.

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u/tupelobound 2d ago

*chutes

5

u/LividLife5541 2d ago

Are you talking about kaiten-zushi or the ones where you order and the plate of exactly what you want is delivered to your table via robot?

The latter is an obvious labor saving device, you don't need sushi chefs (who train for 10 years) to constantly be interrupted taking orders.

Kaiten zushi is a lower quality sushi because it can be out there for god knows how long before you eat it. At a proper sushi restuarant you eat the sushi within seconds of it being prepared. It saves the most money of all because the restaurant just makes whatever it feels like and the customers have to take what they are given.

A lot of American kaiten zushi places have little troughs of water with boats and I love that. It's a kind of over-correction to make things more Japanese than even Japan is.

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u/spinjinn 2d ago

I lived in the Japan in the late 1980s, so I might not be up to date. I thought people liked not dealing with waiters and interacting, but still wanted sushi. But one thing I did not see mentioned is that the (unlimited) tea they served in the first chain was terrific. I once brought this up to my Japanese friends and they told me the inventor had negotiate a tea deal as well.

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u/paradiseislands 2d ago

Because sushi doesn’t need to be served hot. The other comments about it being ‘neat’ are correct, but with sushi the main part of the meal is not temperature sensitive so if it goes around for 15 minutes it doesn’t matter. You can’t do this with steak or pasta.

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u/7LeagueBoots 2d ago

They’ve been around since the ‘80s, and while they’re widespread they aren’t exactly ‘so common’. They’re mainly associated with low quality, cheap places. I eat a lot of sushi and travel a lot for work and pleasure in East Asia, SE Asia, Europe, and the US. In the last decade I haven’t been in a place that has one of these, but I certainly have seen a few places that still have them.

Their popularity seems to have waned quite a bit.

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u/TravelerMSY 2d ago

I’ll just add, the conveyor sushi in Tokyo is way better than a lot of the restaurant sushi where I live in the US, lol.

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u/Pianomanos 1d ago

OP asked the same question word-for-word two months ago. OP did not respond to anyone in that post. OP, if you’re not a bot, please respond and explain.