TL;DR
Benihana's Piccadilly location will close on October 10, 2021, and relocate to a new site in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. The new Benihana Covent Garden is expected to open in the new year and will set a new standard in experiential dining.
Benihana will retain the team currently employed at Piccadilly throughout the closure period. Many will move to the sister restaurant on King's Road, Chelsea, which is expected to be extremely busy whilst fans wait for the new restaurant to open in the new year.
Operations Director, Mr Mamoru Shoda, who has worked at the Piccadilly restaurant for over 20 years, said that he would be sad to see the restaurant close for the last time. Still, he is excited about the move to Covent Garden.
Managing Director Jason Wischhoff stated that despite the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic, Benihana International had enjoyed significant growth. 2020 saw the signing of the largest Benihana globally at Niagara Falls, Canada, a new development in Qatar.
Jason commented on how much he was looking forward to opening this new global flagship restaurant. Benihana Covent Garden will set a new standard in the field of experiential dining that will compliment the stunning interior design of this state of the art restaurant. Maiden Lane is a superb interpretation of how the founder, Rocky Aoki, would envisage Benihana for the 21st century if he were with us today.
The first Benihana was opened in New York City in 1964 by the founder 'Rocky' Aoki. It began serving up its unique and immersive dining experience in Piccadilly in 1994, bringing Japanese food into the mainstream and pioneering its entertaining presentation style.
In this story
This story was originally published in Franchising.com on October 11, 2021. Burnaze summarizes and links to the original reporting.
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