Perhaps that’s the reason why when Mary Ann Tinio decided to branch out and develop a fastfood version of her popular Zen Restaurant, she thought of Japan’s fastest – the shinkanzen, or bullet train.
Mary Ann’s Shinkanzen, located at Greenbelt 3’s Food Choices, has been bringing to a wider market the same quality Japanese fare Manila’s gourmets have enjoyed at Zen.
In a way, it’s a misnomer to call the outlet’s offering fast food, since all of Shinkanzen’s offerings are cooked upon order to ensure fresh, quality cooked food.
"If you compare our counter with all the other establishments here at Food Choices, we do not have the chafing dishes that they have," says Shinkanzen’s Paul Cuenca. "Everything is cooked as they are ordered, from the gyoza, tempura and fried rice. Japanese food doesn’t really sit well on a chafing dish, because it’s best eaten piping hot. Once it cools down, it’s no longer fresh and crispy."
Still, unlike in most fine dining establishments, the wait at Shinkanzen is just a short five to 10 minutes, enough time for one to find an empty table at the food court and get settled in his seat.
Mary Ann says that, until Shinkanzen opened in May 2002, she didn’t know anything about fastfood service. The year she invested in running the restaurant taught her so much more about the food business, as well as the preferences of Pinoy diners.
Japanese food experienced a boom in the 1990s. When Zen opened in 1994, many Filipino diners looked at sushi and sashimi with fear. They also found the price of a Japanese meal too forbidding for their budgets.
Nowadays, diners no longer hesitate entering a Japanese restaurant. Likewise, they have gained the savvy of negotiating through the menu without having to consult a picture-book menu.
"When Zen first opened, we had an AB client base," she admits. "Now, we even have the CD crowd coming in. In all these years, I learned that Filipino diners are now more discerning when it comes to their taste buds, and they have more spending power."
Mary Ann isn’t surprised that her Zen regulars are trooping to Greenbelt 3 to check out what Shinkanzen has to offer. She’s happy that despite the limited menu, she’s gotten thumbs up from her regular client.
The challenge in operating a fastfood establishment is offering quality food items at lower costs.
"We’ve tried our best to go down in terms of ingredients without sacrificing too much the quality of the food we are offering," she explains.
From the high-end Zen, she’s now gone mid-market with Shinkanzen. An average set meal, complete with a bowl of rice, appetizer, soup and dessert, costs anywhere from P135 to P150. A noodle meal goes for as low as P95, while an order of donburi (rice topping) goes for as low as P130. Both come with a choice of side dish, either fried gyoza, California maki or kakiage, and a glass of iced tea.
"We could still go lower," she admits, "but we would already be sacrificing quality. What we can assure our diners is that they get value-for-money service from Shinkanzen."
Due to the portability of some Japanese items, Shinkanzen also offers delivery service for some of its noodle, donburi and bento items. It also caters for special occasions.
"It’s a popular service now," she says. "Sometimes, the office staff or upper management wants to have something different for lunch. They can just call us, and we’ll deliver their orders."
One year into the fastfood business, Mary Ann is now ready to take Shinkanzen around Metro Manila. With a smaller space and a smaller menu, she can cut down further operating costs, bringing to a bigger market quality Japanese food.
"It will be something new," she promises.