The restaurant company was established by Aoki with $10,000 which he earned from driving an ice cream truck in Harlem. The company’s first restaurant is Benihana of Tokyo, which was named for the red Safflower that was also the name of the coffee shop in Tokyo owned by his parents.
Aoki’s idea for the restaurants is to be popular for meals that are theatrically prepared by a joke-telling, knife-wielding chef, at a teppanyaki table surrounded by wooden eating surface, in front of the guests. While the concept seemed unique, the restaurant did not do well at first until early 1965 when it was reviewed by New York Tribune’s Clementine Paddleford. Muhammad Ali and The Beatles were among the celebrities who frequented the restaurant.
Within a year, Aoki opened a bigger restaurant which featured Samurai armour, sliding Shoji screens, and heavy wooden ceiling beams. In 1968, the company opened its first restaurant outside New York, in Chicago. In 1976, Aoki brought in consultant Hardwicke Companies as a partner in running the company. However, the relationship was terminated by Aoki himself in 1980, settling a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint of insider trading of Hardwicke stock.
In 1982, the Benihana National Corporation went public under President Joel Schwartz’s leadership. Meanwhile, some of the restaurants remained privately owned by Aoki.
The company continued to expand, purchasing Haru and RA Sushi restaurants which still operate under the said names. While the company also had some missteps along the way, it still proves to be a successful business all the same.