From our beginnings as a family business with one Benihana restaurant in New York to our recognition today as a cultural icon with 79 Benihana restaurants in the United States, Caribbean, and Central and South America, our success continues to be a result of our relationships with our guests, investors and employees. The facts below offer a broad view of Benihana’s past, present and future.
Benihana corporate headquarters located in Aventura, Florida
President and Chief Executive Officer, Manny Hilario
More than 7,400 employees
Company owns 68 Benihana restaurants, one Samurai restaurant and 16 RA Sushi restaurants
Largest operator of teppanyaki restaurants in the United States
Benihana is the leading Japanese restaurant chain in the United States. Our Benihana restaurants are a place to meet new friends, celebrate special occasions or just enjoy an entertaining meal. Our highly skilled teppanyaki chefs slice and dice your meal on teppanyaki grills, providing entertainment as you enjoy traditional Japanese cooking using American favorites like steak, chicken, seafood and vegetables. Benihana restaurants pioneered the communal dining concept in the early 1960’s where up to eight people are seated around a Japanese hibachi grill waiting anxiously for their personal show to begin.
Manny Hilario, Benihana’s President and Chief Executive Officer, joined the company in 2024.
Benihana owns 68 Japanese teppanyaki restaurants and 11 franchises in the United States, Caribbean and Central and South America. Additionally, one Samurai restaurant and 16 RA Sushi restaurants in the United States.
Benihana corporate has been based in South Florida since 1980. The address is 21500 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 900, Aventura, Florida 33180.
In 1964, Japanese-born Rocky H. Aoki opened the first Benihana restaurant on Manhattan’s West Side at 61 West 56th St. That restaurant soon became famous for its theatrical chefs, teppanyaki grills and traditional Japanese architecture. The interior structure of the restaurant was a 150-year-old Japanese barn that Rocky’s father found in the countryside of Japan.