Last Friday it was announced that sushi restaurant chains Akindo Sushiro Co. and Genki Sushi Co. are in merger talks to speed up the expansion of their overseas business.
Akindo Sushiro operates Japan’s largest conveyor belt sushi chain with around 470 restaurants, most of them domestic. Genki Sushi, the No. 5 chain, runs more than half of its 300 or so restaurants abroad, including in the US and China.
By teaming up, they hope to cut down on costs and pool their resources to open more restaurants across the growing Asian market, especially as Japan’s greying population puts a damper on domestic sales.
