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Customers roll up for new-look sushi
By Liam Walsh
29mar04
TAKE ham, bacon and eggs and roll them in rice
and you have one of the outlooks for sushi in Australia.
The food industry believes there's a growing
market for Japanese food, and franchises are increasing.
Some see the traditional Japanese ways of preparation as essential
while others try "Westernising" the food.
One franchise planning to rapidly expand is Go
Sushi, which has nine stores nationwide. It hopes for at least
20 more this year, general manager Angelo Lauro said.
Go Sushi is also considering areas that traditional
sushi chefs would probably never go. "Pizza sushi rolls,
greek salad rolls – don't laugh, people love it," Mr
Lauro said.
The company, which has been running almost five
years, says on its website the initial investment for a franchise
averaged between $240,000 and $310,000.
The kiosks have a few stools, but Mr Lauro said
the company was aiming at "people who are on the run"
and wanted to eat healthy food.
Stores also offer non-traditional items such
as smoked-salmon-and-cream-cheese rolls and caesar salad rolls.
Even mayonnaise from the US was used, Mr Lauro said.
"We've changed it . . . by giving the rolls
more flavour.
"It's a Westernised style in Western themes
with an Asian influence," he said.
Another chain with a positive outlook was Sushi
Train.
The 10-year-old company had doubled its turnover
in 18 months, chief financial officer Marc Beets said.
Two stores had closed in that time but the company
had 18 franchises nationwide, and even knocked back some people
seeking to open stores because they did not know how to make quality
food, Mr Beets said.
"In order to create quality products you
need a trained professional sushi chef," he said.
Examples of good chefs were those with a keen
sense of smell or who knew how to cut fish in the correct way.
He said only a small number of experienced chefs
were based in Australia, so the company often used Japanese personnel.
The company was thinking of opening a training
school.
Figures on Restaurant and Catering Australia's
website show Japanese outlets account for 1.9 per cent of restaurants
.
RCA president Con Castrisos said Japanese food
was a growing a sector because it was perceived to be healthy.
There was not a question of market oversupply
because Japanese food's "footholding is so small," he
said.
Franchise Council of Australia communications
manager Marilyn Koh said there was no indication of market saturation
for sushi outlets.
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