🍣 Sushiro, Japan's #1 conveyor-belt sushi chain for 13 consecutive years, is finally making a serious run at America. Its first US flagship opens in Times Square, New York this fall. But rival Kura Sushi already runs 83 NASDAQ-listed stores across the US. Hama-zushi's parent company owns 8,000 takeout sushi counters in American supermarkets. How did Japan's sushi king end up the last of its country's giants to seriously enter the US market — and what's its play this time?

What just happened

On May 8, 2026, FOOD & LIFE COMPANIES (F&LC, headquartered in Suita, Osaka) — the operator of revolving sushi chain Sushiro — announced its first US store under the Sushiro brand:

  • Location: Times Square, New York City
  • Opening: Fall 2026
  • Teaser site: sushiro-usa.com

Hiroshige Kato, F&LC's executive vice president for overseas business, told reporters that choosing Times Square represents "a statement that we're committing to a long-term US expansion." The company's mid-term plan targets raising overseas sales ratio to 35% by fiscal year ending September 2026, and the US is the final big piece on that board.

Menu prices have not yet been disclosed.

First, who is "Sushiro"?

For most non-Japanese readers, "Sushiro" may not ring an immediate bell. But in Japan, this chain is the undisputed king of revolving sushi, holding the #1 sales position for 13 consecutive years.

Founded in 1984 in Shizuoka Prefecture, Sushiro overtook the previous leader Kappa-zushi in 2011 and has dominated ever since. Domestic store count is around 648 locations (as of February 2025), and average annual revenue per store exceeds 300 million yen (about $1.9 million) — an extraordinary number even by global restaurant industry standards.

The company has been pushing tech aggressively for decades. Every sushi plate carries an IC chip on its underside, allowing the chain to track second-by-second sales of every dish across every restaurant. F&LC adopted Amazon Web Services in 2012 — exceptionally early for a Japanese restaurant company. Behind a deceptively low-tech format, Sushiro has been running one of the most data-driven operations in food service.

Pricing in Japan starts at 120 yen (about $0.80) per plate. Slightly higher than rivals Kura (115 yen) and Hama (110 yen), but the philosophy is to leave more headroom for ingredient quality.

Japan's "Conveyor-Belt Sushi Three Kingdoms"

To understand the significance of Sushiro's US move, you need to understand the Japanese revolving sushi market. Roughly 80% of the industry is controlled by the top five chains — and the top three are locked in a fierce three-way war Japanese media nicknames the "Three Kingdoms" (after the classical Chinese era of competing dynasties).

Chain Operator Latest annual revenue Stores (Japan / overseas) Founded
Sushiro FOOD & LIFE COMPANIES ~$1.4 billion 648 / 195 (843 total) 1984, Shizuoka
Kura Sushi Kura Sushi Co. ~$1.2 billion 551 / 135 (686 total) 1977, Osaka
Hama-zushi Zensho HD ~$830 million 631 / 87 (718 total) 2002, Tokyo

Store counts as of February 2025. USD conversions at ~157 yen/USD.

Each chain plays a strikingly different game.

Sushiro wins on quality and per-store scale. Annual revenue per restaurant exceeds $1.9 million domestically — and overseas locations average even more, around $3.2 million per store. The chain leads the three on overseas exposure, with international sales reaching 27.9% of total revenue. The mid-term target is 40%.

Kura Sushi competes on gamification and tech. Drop five empty plates into the slot and a gacha-style minigame called "Bikkura Pon!" launches with anime-themed prizes. Sushi plates come capped with hygienic transparent covers ("Sendo-kun"). Constant anime collaboration campaigns keep families coming back. Kura's app has 12.7 million annual active users — the highest of the three. It's the loyalty leader.

Hama-zushi plays the price and footprint game. At 110 yen per plate it's the cheapest of the three, backed by parent Zensho HD's deep balance sheet. The medium-term plan explicitly targets becoming #1 in domestic store count and revenue. Hama added 35 net new domestic stores between 2024 and 2025 — by far the most aggressive expansion of the three.

The plot twist: Sushiro is late to America

Here's the surprising part. Sushiro is the king at home and the most internationally aggressive of the three — yet in the US market, it is the last of the three to plant a serious flag.

Kura Sushi opened a US subsidiary back in 2008, with its first restaurant in Irvine, California in 2009. By August 2019 it had gone public on NASDAQ as KRUS. As of August 2025, Kura USA operates roughly 83 stores across 22 states plus Washington D.C., with 16 more openings planned for fiscal 2026 and projected annual sales of around $330 million. In American minds, Kura already is "the Japanese conveyor-belt sushi chain."

Hama-zushi's parent Zensho HD made a different bet. In October 2018 it acquired Advanced Fresh Concepts (AFC), a US company that runs takeout sushi counters inside supermarkets. AFC's footprint? Roughly 8,000 locations. Not restaurants in the traditional sense, but a massive piece of America's grab-and-go sushi infrastructure that Zensho quietly absorbed.

And then there's Sushiro itself. The chain actually entered Manhattan in November 2015 under a new brand called "SUSHIRO SEASONAL KITCHEN" — without a conveyor belt, focused on takeout sushi, ramen, and udon. A second store opened in West 52nd Street in June 2016. Both were closed by October 2016, just months later. Sushiro USA LLC was formally dissolved in May 2017.

In other words, this fall's Times Square store is a 10-year revenge mission.

A more recent beachhead: in April 2024, F&LC opened a sushi izakaya called "Sugidama" (locally branded Sakabayashi) in Boston — a softer foothold to test the US market. The full Sushiro brand finally returns this autumn.

For completeness, mid-tier rival Choshi-maru has also announced a Los Angeles US debut in 2025 in a joint venture with Royal Holdings and Sojitz. America has become the final battleground in Japanese conveyor-belt sushi expansion.

Why Times Square?

Vice President Kato's quote — "we're putting roots down in the heart of New York" — is more than corporate boilerplate. It's a deliberate flagship strategy.

Times Square draws roughly 50 million annual visitors, the vast majority of them tourists. A US debut here doesn't just target Americans; it puts the Sushiro brand in front of a global audience of travelers, many already curious about Japanese food culture. As a brand showcase, it's almost ideal.

The catch: rent and labor in Times Square are among the highest in the country. As a pure profit center, it would be a brutally hard location. This is the textbook flagship play: prioritize brand exposure over store-level economics in year one. The goal isn't "Times Square store breaks even" — it's "every visitor who walks past the entrance now associates Sushiro with authentic Japanese revolving sushi."

The competitive context in NYC sushi is interesting. Manhattan's astronomical rents and air-freighted ingredients have pushed Michelin-starred omakase to over $950 per person at places like Masa. At the same time, supermarket grab-and-go sushi (covered in our companion piece) has become a $2.8 billion category with $10–$15 packs.

Sushiro is positioning itself in the wide gap between these two extremes: efficient, technology-driven service delivering chef-quality nigiri at $15–$25 per meal. Pricing has not been announced, but Kura USA's roughly $3.45 base plate gives a reasonable benchmark.

Sushiro's weapons: tech, repeatability, and price tolerance

Sushiro's competitive arsenal for international expansion comes down to three things.

1. Operational reproducibility F&LC executives have publicly described the playbook: rice handling, plating, and core operations are fully standardized from Japan; the toppings and sides are localized to each market. Any Sushiro anywhere in the world serves the same shari (sushi rice) handled the same way.

2. Data-driven operations Every plate's IC chip feeds real-time analytics that minimize waste and optimize menu rotation. This DNA stretches back to the 1980s and ports cleanly to overseas locations.

3. Brand pricing power Annual revenue per overseas store averages about $3.2 million, versus $1.9 million in Japan. Customers in foreign markets pay more and line up. When Sushiro's first Shanghai store opened in December 2025, the pre-opening line stretched so long that wait times exceeded 14 hours for entry tickets, according to JETRO's report.

Will it work in America?

Honestly, the bull and bear cases are both strong.

The bull case: Japanese restaurants in the US have grown from ~3,000 in 1992 to ~23,000 in 2022 — a 7× increase. American consumers are far more comfortable with sushi today than even a decade ago. Times Square traffic is a tailwind. Pent-up curiosity for "real Japanese chains" is high.

The bear case: the US restaurant industry from 2025 onward has entered what analysts call the "Great Margin Squeeze." Trump-era tariffs have raised import costs for Japanese seafood and ingredients. Labor costs keep rising. The spread of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is reducing casual dining traffic. Even Kura USA reported same-store sales down 2.5% in Q1 fiscal 2026.

There's also the New York–specific problem. As Business Insider Japan reported back in 2019, multiple Japanese conveyor-belt sushi attempts have failed in Manhattan because the rent–turnover–check size math just doesn't work the way it does in Japanese roadside locations. Sushiro's 2015 closure was a casualty of exactly that.

The contrarian opening

Sushiro can still win — by playing a different game from Kura.

Kura USA has spent fifteen years building a distinctly Americanized revolving sushi experience: gamification, anime collabs, family-friendly entertainment. Sushiro is bringing something else: the adult, urban, high-quality everyday sushi that Tokyo office workers eat after work. Same category on paper; very different positioning.

Times Square works in this framing. To tourists — including a record number of Americans visiting Japan post-COVID, around 2.8 million annually — the pitch is simple: "Experience authentic Japanese conveyor-belt sushi without flying to Tokyo." For Americans who've already been to Japan and tried Sushiro, the message is even more visceral: the place you loved in Tokyo just opened down the street.

If F&LC hits its 35% overseas revenue target, Sushiro graduates from "Japan's biggest revolving sushi chain" to "global Japanese restaurant brand." Times Square is the symbolic chapter of that story.

What's it like in your country?

The Times Square Sushiro launch will likely trigger a new wave of competition in US conveyor-belt sushi — Kura, Sushiro, and soon Choshi-maru. The dynamics of Japan's sushi Three Kingdoms are about to play out on American street corners.

If Sushiro arrived in your city, would you go? Or are you already happy with your local sushi options? Which do you prefer — "authentic Japanese conveyor-belt sushi" or sushi adapted to your country's tastes? Let us know in the comments.

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