Japanese revolving sushi bar restaurant chain Kura Sushi yesterday opened its first overseas flagship restaurant in Kaohsiung. It is also the chain’s 51st outlet in Taiwan.
With an area of 2,000 ping (6,612m2), the flagship restaurant is the largest Kura Sushi outlet in the world, accommodating 288 customers, said Kura Sushi Asia Co (亞洲藏壽司), the company’s Taiwanese subsidiary.
The restaurant designed by Kasiwa Sato combines sightseeing and food, and features 100 Japanese-style lanterns at the front of the outlet, Kura Sushi Asia said.
Photo: CNA
The chain arrived in Taiwan in 2014 with the goal of opening 50 restaurants, a target achieved in January, Kura Sushi Asia chairman Kentaro Nishikawa said.
Kura Sushi has opened four global flagship restaurants in Tokyo and Osaka, and is launching its first overseas flagship outlet in Kaohsiung as it is upbeat about an anticipated boom in the local tourism, and food and beverage industries, the company said.
The conveyor belt sushi chain has 530 restaurants in Japan, 46 in the US, 51 in Taiwan and is set to open its first outlet in Shanghai this year, Nishikawa said.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
While many restaurants withdrew from China due to its strict COVID-19 restrictions over the past few years, Kuro Sushi considers it a potential market for business growth and plans to open more stores there, he said.
The firm aims to increase its number of overseas restaurants to 400 by 2030, he added.
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