This Japan shop’s US$2 beef croquettes are so popular, there’s a 38-year waiting list
- The butcher shop uses grade A5 Kobe beef – the highest quality ranking of the delicacy – in its croquettes to draw in customers to buy other cuts of meat
- Only 200 croquettes are produced daily. The order list has 63,000 names and the latest additions will not be receiving their orders until the year 2062
An order sent to Asahiya today will be delivered in about 38 years.
Nitta’s deep-fried beef and potato dumplings have attracted a fanatical following across Japan for the cubes of grade A5 Kobe beef – the highest quality ranking of the rarefied delicacy – from three-year-old cows that have been raised locally.
He then combines the beef with “Red Andes” potatoes grown on a farm that only supplies his shop and are prized for their high sugar content. The final primary ingredient is onions from Awaji Island, in the inland sea off Hyogo Prefecture.
Each croquette is around 10cm across, weighs 100 grams and are known as “kiwami”, which translates as “the ultimate”. Croquettes can be ordered in boxes of 10 that are delivered frozen, with a single golden croquette containing around 30 grams of prime Kobe beef and selling for 300 yen (US$2.05) – which Nitta says is a steal.
“I estimate we are losing 300 yen on every croquette that we sell because the beef that goes into them is so expensive,” he told This Week in Asia. “But we started selling them because we wanted people to have a taste of high-quality, diced Kobe beef and to encourage them to buy other cuts of beef from us.”
The campaign is working, with Nitta operating two shops and his business expanding.