23 – Why great sushi counters are small
Finally, I did my first sushi party.
The guests were delighted.
“Kenji, this is amazing.”
“I didn’t know you could do this!”
But this little “trial by fire” revealed another truth.
I was still too slow.
I couldn’t keep up with the demand.
People lined up, waiting for their turn, smiling politely while I carefully formed each piece.
My technique was decent, but my speed… far from professional.
If I want to serve more people, if I really want to run a sushi class,I need to move faster. Much faster.
After that, my practice at the academy became even more serious.
I wasn’t just “doing the homework” anymore.
I was training for the next time someone would trust me to be their sushi chef.
This small experiment taught me something else, too.
I began to understand why high-end sushi restaurants are almost always small—
why so many of them have only a counter, with maybe eight seats at most.
A single sushi chef can only truly take care of about eight guests at a time.
Because the job isn’t just to make sushi.
It’s to to talk.
To listen.
To notice who likes what.
To remember who prefers lighter flavors and who is waiting for something rich and fatty.
To adjust the pace of service to the mood of the counter.
If you want to keep the quality of the sushi high and keep every guest satisfied,
the number of seats naturally has to be limited.
