Amid the spread of the novel coronavirus, a yakitori grilled chicken restaurant in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, has set up a stand that resembles a drink vending machine and is known for selling 100 packs of yakitori per day.
While the number of customers at the business has dwindled, this unmanned device has become popular among consumers because they can savor the taste of the specialty without having contact with members of the staff, essentially maintaining social distance.
The restaurant set up a second vending stand in late August, and the trend is starting to gain traction among other restaurants.
A stand positioned in front of the Shoki yakitori restaurant in Ishinomaki contains four skewered negima, a type of yakitori with chicken and leek, placed inside a warmer. They go for 500 yen a pack.
The stand has no buttons and its glass door does not open automatically when customers insert money into the coin slot. This means the customers have to manually open the door and remove their purchases.
The outermost portion of the frame around the stand is made of plywood and a sign on it reads, "This vending machine is actually not automatic."
The bottom portion of the stand features a fridge in which the restaurant's famous buta-no-atarime dried pork is also available at a cost of 400 yen.
Said a 35 year-old housewife in Ishinomaki: "It's nice because I have small children and it's difficult to eat in there."
Shoki owner Yuta Kusano, 39, came up with the idea for the machine-like setup after seeing an unattended vegetable stand on a farm path.
Because of the impact of the pandemic and the restaurant experiencing consecutive days without seeing any customers, sales there in April and May plummeted. At that time, Kusano said his "heart was broken and [he] thought about shutting things down."
But after the inspiration from seeing the stand on the country road, he changed his mind and asked a small construction company in Ishinomaki to create the stand. He even painted it himself and launched the stand on July 7.
The machine-like stand has seen no problems, such as product theft, and has generated about 500,000 yen in yakitori sales per month.
He set up a second stand on Aug. 25 in front of a beauty salon about 10 minutes by car after obtaining consent.
Meanwhile, another yakitori restaurant in Tomiya, Miyagi Prefecture, started a similar vending stand on Aug. 23. Kei Shibuya, 48, the restaurant owner, said he learned of the Kusano's vending stand and thought, "this is interesting."
"There is no labor cost and elementary school students can make purchases. It would be great if we could recoup sales lost in the restaurant even the slightest bit," Shibuya said.
Kusano has been handling inquiries from other restaurants and informs them how to make and launch the vending stand.
"We want to work together with other yakitori restaurants to overcome this battle with the coronavirus," said Kusano, whose enthusiasm is evident.
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