Sushi is traditionally made with raw fish but this restaurant in Japan has started serving theirs with a side of beefcake.
The pandemic has forced many business owners to get creative, like 41-year old Sugiura Masanori, the third-generation owner of Imazushi, a restaurant in Anjo City, who hired bodybuilders to deliver sushi to customers.
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Sugiura’s restaurant has been around for seven decades but was badly hit by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. He knew he had to do something to save the business, and so Delivery Macho was born.
“Due to the coronavirus, the store was closed. I started to think that it would be interesting to be naked and deliver to differentiate my delivery,” Sugiura told VICE.
The buff chef delivers sushi to customers but has also hired several top-ranking bodybuilders to work as couriers for the establishment. Upon arriving at a customer’s destination, delivery men remove their tops to display their toned figures, posing for customers from a safe distance. Customers need to spend at least 7,008 yen ($66) to get a taste of Delivery Macho.
Imazushi mainly accepts orders from Nagoya but is also up to take journeys outside the area, even as far as Tokyo and Osaka, depending on the total price of the order. Before the pandemic, Sugiura said that his restaurant catered to big groups and memorial services. Without these usual customers, he has lost his main source of income. From their usual revenue of 100 million yen ($940,000) per year, they were down to 10 million yen ($94,000) in the latest quarter. It got so bad, Sugiura said he had to cut down his employees from 50 to four.
The unique delivery service went viral on Twitter as soon as its official website launched in August, receiving a large number of inquiries. The restaurant now receives around eight to 10 orders on busy days, with earnings from the service topping about 1.5 million yen ($ 14,125).
“Thanks to bodybuilding, many people got to know the store and many people ordered it,” Sugiura said.
The chef has been working out since his 20s and joined bodybuilding competitions by the time he was in his 30s. Sugiura told VICE that in February, he ranked third in the global competition Muscle Contest Japan Physique. His idea for a unique delivery service was made possible by his bodybuilding friends, most of whom were gym employees who lost their jobs when gyms closed due to the pandemic. The idea is similar to other quirky gimmicks in the region, like the fruit store in Thailand that went viral for having ripped men chop and deliver durian.
With business booming, Sugiura said he is currently looking to find more buff couriers in Tokyo, where most of his orders have been coming from.
