A year or two ago I ate at one of the Atlanta location Benihana restaurants. I wasn't particularly impressed with their buffet sushi, as it shared quality with most buffet sushi restaurants and was below the level of the sushi masters such as Sakana-Ya (oh how we miss you.) To put it in perspective, you get better sushi at Inoko Sushi Express. The crepes, on the other hand, were masterful and were the best part of the whole meal. Saldy, we didn't eat there again - the price was great, but if we want mediocre sushi there are plenty of places closer to Athens for that.
Well, a blogger in Kuwait posted a similar opinion about a newly opened Benihana chain there. And now the Benihana franchise is suing him for defamation. This was, quite possibly, the most bone-headed move to make. The standard etiquette upon recieving a bad review is to apologize, promise to fix the issues, and invite the diner to try again. (This practice was employed by the manager of our local Olive Garden, who is interestingly enough now our next door neighbor. It works.) The best practice is most certainly not to sue them.
But wait, there's more! There are actually two Benihana franchise groups - Benihana Inc, and Benihana of Tokyo. One handles franchises in the Americas, and the other one handles the rest of the world. Benihana, Inc put out a press statement complaining that none of this is their fault. In the meantime, rest of the World Benihana of Tokyo is suing Americas territory Benihana, Inc, for opening franchises outside of their designated area.
Benihana of Tokyo is the one responsible for the Kuwait branch of the chain. Rumor is that the managers of the Kuwait branch acted without permission from the franchise, but if they're suing their own sister company, then perhaps not. Sounds like they are most definitely being a little sue-happy these days.
Supporters of Mark of 248am are now printing t-shirts that say,"I Ate At Benihana And All I Got Was This Lousy Lawsuit."
No comments:
Post a Comment