World Courant
Sushi big Sushiro has digitized its assembly-line eating expertise at a few of its retailers in Japan, amid a wave of sushi terror acts that see meals licked earlier than being positioned again on the conveyor belt.
As a substitute of an precise conveyor belt, visitors are greeted by an ultra-wide touchscreen that mimics the rotation of sushi on a digital conveyor belt.
They faucet the display screen to pick the specified plates and ship a message to the kitchen the place their dishes are freshly ready to order, a plus that shouldn’t be underestimated on the subject of uncooked seafood.
There’s one other profit: diners will now not miss the dishes they need as a result of others have eaten the meals earlier than them.
Digital Sushiro Imaginative and prescient, or Digiro for brief, was introduced final Wednesday by Akindo Sushiro, the operator of the chain, Japanese media report.
The screens have been trialled at two retailers in Tokyo and Osaka, whereas one other outlet in Nagoya will launch on Thursday. There are plans for a nationwide enlargement of the digital display screen, relying on the outcomes of the exams.
“Digital know-how has helped us create a brand new option to get pleasure from conveyor belt sushi,” stated Kohei Nii, president of Akindo Sushiro.
However Mr Nii instructed Japanese each day Asahi Shimbun that Digiro was not a direct response to “sushi terrorism” incidents that focused Japanese sushi eating places earlier in 2023, saying it was a part of the “broader hygienic and labor-saving measures” of the chain.
Acts of terrorism made headlines when youngsters at a number of chains, together with Sushiro, filmed themselves licking communal restaurant objects resembling soy sauce bottles or items of sushi earlier than returning them to the communal conveyor belt.
The incidents, which led to a number of arrests, led to a decline within the variety of clients visiting conveyor belt sushi eating places, particularly after particular retailers had been recognized on social media or in information stories.
“A 0.1 % drop in buyer numbers may translate right into a lack of about 100 million yen ($919,000),” sushi trade professional Nobuo Yonekawa instructed Asahi Shimbun in February. “It takes money and time to implement measures that may deter dangerous areas. They’ll proceed to lose cash till the deterrent impact kicks in.”
The ultra-wide Digiro display screen of roughly 0.5 by 1.5 meters extends throughout the width of a stand. Diners will nonetheless obtain the meals they ordered on a central belt related to all eating cubicles, however with plates pushed onto a ramp going through the sales space they ordered.
Conveyor belt sushi in Japan goes digital for hygiene and gamifies the eating expertise
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