Three employees doing the work of five people? This is how the chain sushi restaurant arranges the equipment and personnel allocation

In Europe and America, the hourly wage of a skilled sushi chef has risen to 18-25 US dollars. They also have to pay taxes, insurance, and provide paid leave.

Moreover, if the chef takes a leave, the kitchen will come to a standstill. How do the chain brands manage to have three people accomplish the work of five?

The answer is not to exploit the employees, but to replace repetitive tasks with equipment. Now, let’s use three core devices to dissect this proven “human-machine ratio plan”.

Vinegar mixer, turning “technical work” into “just pressing a button”
拌醋机，把“技术活”变成“按按钮”

In traditional sushi restaurants, making seasoned rice is a skill that requires practice.

After the rice is cooked, it needs to be poured into a wooden tub while still hot. At this point, vinegar is poured over it and stirred continuously, all while using a fan to cool it down.

If the technique is too light, the vinegar won’t be evenly distributed;

if it’s too heavy, the rice grains will be crushed;

if the temperature isn’t lowered properly, the texture of the rice ball will be poor.

A novice needs to practice for at least two weeks before they can master it. Even a seasoned chef will spend more than 10 minutes stirring a pot of 6 kilograms of seasoned rice.

This vinegar mixer compresses the entire process down to just 6 minutes.

All you need to do is pour the cooked rice into it, add the sushi vinegar, press the start button, and the machine will automatically complete the entire process of stirring, vinegar absorption, and cooling.

After 6 minutes, the vinegar rice can be directly served for use without needing to wait for further cooling.

Originally, an employee needed 15 minutes to complete a task by hand. Now, the machine can finish it in just 6 minutes, and no prior experience is required.

The time saved in this process can be used by the employees for other tasks such as packaging, receiving orders, and preparing meals.

The rice ball machine can handle twice the workload of two individual rice ball makers.

The vinegar rice is ready. Now it’s time to make the rice balls.

The traditional method is that a skilled master can mold about 400 to 500 rice balls in an hour.

Those with faster hands can reach 600. However, you can’t have the master mold continuously for an entire morning. The hands will become sore and the efficiency will decrease. Moreover, each rice ball will have slight differences in weight, firmness and shape.

The production capacity of this rice ball machine is 1,800 per hour. One machine is equivalent to the work output of 1-2 skilled workers.

What’s more crucial is that it transforms “craftsmanship” into “standardization”.

The curved hand-grip mold of the machine has an exclusive curvature design in the industry. The rice balls produced have the appearance of being made by hand, with a beautiful shape, moderate tightness, and can rival the techniques of master chefs.

The weight of the rice balls can be adjusted between 16 grams and 26 grams, and the tightness can also be flexibly adjusted.

For roll sushi, the rice sheet needs to be laid out first.

The traditional method is for the chef to spread the rice onto the seaweed using their hands. The thickness needs to be uniform and this is determined by the sense of touch. It’s also difficult to do it quickly.

This rice sheet maker can produce 700 rice sheets per hour.

The color LCD touch screen combined with the intelligent system makes it easy for even beginners to operate, without the need for professional training.

The hopper has an automatic heat preservation function, which can effectively prevent the rice from drying out during the waiting process and maintain the texture of the rice.

The thickness, length and density of the rice paste can all be freely adjusted to meet different production requirements.

What’s more convenient is that this machine has an infrared sensor function and supports continuous production mode. There is no need to press the start button each time; it will automatically supply rice and automatically spread the rice.

One rice spreading machine is paired with one employee, and the production output is equivalent to that of two to three masters working simultaneously.

Based on all the above, let’s return to the initial question: Why do chain brands not worry about workers taking sick leave or employees leaving?

Because they have entrusted the most skill-dependent parts to equipment.

There’s no need for people to wait when making vinegar, no need for hands to get sore when handling rice, and no need to rely on intuition when laying out the rice.

The boss doesn’t have to beg the master to work because anyone can do it, and even if someone leaves, it won’t cause any problems. Three people can do the work of five. This is the truth behind why chain stores become increasingly effortless as they expand.

Meal Preparation Machine：寿司铺饭机（焕新版） – sushitechgear

Vinegar mixer：寿司米饭搅拌机-落地式 – sushitechgear

Rice ball machine：握寿司机器-标准版 – sushitechgear