While Asian cuisine has dominated much of the restaurants in Flushing, especially along Main Street, there seems to be a new emerging type of food known as hot pot to some and shabu shabu to others. The sudden hot pot/shabu shabu craze started around two years ago and continues to this day. Two years ago, Flushing’s hot pot/shabu shabu restaurant options were limited to two competitors, Minni’s Shabu Shabu and Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot. The popularity of shabu shabu led to the revitalization of one particular restaurant who closed its doors as a Japanese sushi buffet and opened as a shabu shabu restaurant, Spring Shabu Shabu.

The management of Spring Shabu Shabu formerly owned the Japanese sushi buffet, Nori Nori, located on the 2nd floor of Queens Crossing Mall in Flushing, Queens. Although Nori Nori was successful for a while, towards the end of its 2nd year, it began to die out. There were no more lines for the restaurant, the restaurant closed its doors during lunch hours to save money, and the restaurant eventually started to lose money. All the efforts the management put in to build popularity again such as to-go options, bento boxes, and the likes were not enough to draw the crowds back in. As a result, the management decided that the business was no longer worthwhile.  The management closed its doors never stating a return or reopening. Due to the fact that Flushing’s food choices were so diverse, it was hard to think of something new that would make it worthwhile to pay the hefty rent and utility fees while generating a profit. One thing that caught their attention was the sudden booming popularity of shabu shabu restaurants in Flushing. Despite the fact that there were more shabu shabu restaurants opening every few months, the restaurants generally seemed consistently busy. The management began to discuss new and creative takes on shabu shabu for themselves and created the first shabu shabu buffet in Flushing.

It has been roughly one year and a half since its opening and business has never slowed. If anything, the business is only gaining more popular as positive yelp reviews, large crowds, and word of mouth spread the news of a shabu shabu buffet. The business minimizes costs because the food does not require chefs to prepare, there is no need for having a lot of kitchen workers prepping the food, and the vegetables rarely go to waste. The restaurant found a way to decrease the expenses of running the restaurant, while decreasing the prices that customers have to pay. As a result, the restaurant was able to generate more pure profit and making it more accessible for customers.

I plan on interviewing a manager who initially gave and designed the idea of a shabu shabu buffet. He planned everything out for them and had the management back his idea. He also worked as the general manager of the restaurant for both Nori Nori and Spring Shabu Shabu. Secondly, I want to interview a server that worked with the restaurant during both Nori Nori and Spring Shabu Shabu to give comparisons on earnings, general reception, and the likes. I feel that the servers take will be an interesting part of the story to have worked for a business that came back to life as it reopened into a different restaurant.

I feel like this would be relevant particularly to residents in the Queens area. Particularly people living in the areas around Flushing, Bayside, and Little Neck because I know that shabu shabu is booming in popularity in these areas. Stores are reopening into shabu shabu restaurants or adding shabu shabu on their menus alongside whatever they had been serving.