O Poder da Observação: Lições de Empreendedorismo do Caso Benihana - Inglês para Executivos
- Micael Daher Jardim
- 10 de out.
- 4 min de leitura
Você acaba de chegar a um novo país. Mal fala a língua, não entende bem a cultura e tem apenas uma pequena quantia guardada — suficiente, no máximo, para abrir um negócio modesto. O sonho é apresentar algo do seu país natal, algo de que você gosta muito. Mas logo percebe que ninguém ao seu redor parece conhecer ou sequer se interessar por isso. Você é um estrangeiro tentando criar valor em um mundo desconhecido.
Decision 1
You’ve just arrived in a new country. You barely speak the language, you don’t fully understand the culture, and you have a small amount of savings — barely enough to open a modest business. You have a dream: to introduce something from your home country that you love.
You are an outsider trying to create value in an unfamiliar world.
“What’s your first move?”
Answer A - Decision 1
You decide to act fast. With limited savings and little local knowledge, you open a restaurant exactly like the ones back home. Diners don’t understand the menu, hesitate to try unfamiliar dishes, and leave unsatisfied. Word spreads, and within weeks, traffic slows to a trickle. Costs rise while revenue falls. Faced with mounting losses, you close the restaurant before your savings completely disappear.
Answer B - Decision 1
You decide to wait before jumping in. Day after day, you wander through neighborhoods, cafeterias, street fairs, and restaurants, quietly watching how people eat, spend, and interact. At first, it feels slow and frustrating — you want to take action, but instead, you are simply collecting small clues. Over time, patterns start to emerge. These subtle behaviors reveal opportunities you never would have found by guessing or asking directly.
Answer C - Decision 1
You decide to focus on formal research, creating surveys and interviews to ask people what they want. The data looks promising: clear percentages, charts, and strong statements about loving authenticity and adventure. Encouraged, you design a menu based on these answers. But when the restaurant opens, customers hesitate, avoid certain dishes, and leave food untouched. You realize too late that what people say they want doesn’t always match how they actually behave.
Decision 2
Observation has given you plenty of raw material, but insights only matter if you turn them into a concrete plan. You sit with your notes:
curiosity when flames rise from a pan,
fear when raw fish appears,
comfort when people order steak or chicken,
laughter when strangers sit side by side.
With so little capital, you can’t afford to get this wrong.
Three possible paths stand out:
Answer A - Decision 2
At first, people are curious — but soon hesitation turns into rejection. Plates go back untouched, word of mouth fades, and sales collapse. Authenticity feels good, but it isn’t enough when the market doesn’t understand or trust what you’re offering. You need you change before you die.
Answer B - Decision 2
The menu looks good. But so is everyone else’s. Without money for advertising or scale, you are just another small player in a crowded market. Customers don’t notice you, margins are thin, and growth is impossible.
Answer C - Decision 2
Instead of hiding the kitchen, you put it at the center. The chef becomes a performer, flames rise, knives flash, and familiar ingredients — steak, chicken, shrimp — are transformed before the customer’s eyes.
Decision 3
Now you must figure out how to bring this idea to life with almost no resources. The concept is clear, but execution will make or break it.
How would you invest?
Answer A - Decision 3
You invest all your savings into an elegant space, imported materials, and top-end furniture. On opening night, a few curious customers arrive, but the place feels half-empty. Word spreads slowly, and the fixed costs crush you before the idea has a chance to prove itself. The show might have potential, but you never gave it room to evolve.
Answer B - Decision 3
You choose a modest location, nothing fancy — just enough room for a few tables and a grill in the center. Plastic chairs, simple decoration, but when the chef flips shrimp and stacks onions into a flaming volcano, customers light up. The food is familiar enough to feel safe, yet the experience is unlike anything they’ve seen. Some dishes flop, some tricks fall flat, but you can adjust quickly. The model begins to take shape.
Answer C - Decision 3
You flood the neighborhood with flyers promising a “revolutionary dining experience.” Opening night is packed — but the act isn’t refined yet, and the menu is confusing. Customers leave disappointed, and the buzz turns into bad word of mouth. Marketing bought you attention, but without a strong product, it only accelerated failure.
Epilogue
That modest restaurant became the seed of something far larger.
By refining the routines, simplifying the menu, and training chefs to deliver a consistent performance, the concept grew into a repeatable model.
It became Benihana, a chain with more than 100 restaurants worldwide and revenues in the hundreds of millions.
Videos
Watch the Benihana show
Watch this scene from The Office.
Watch a short story about the company
Watch the full documentary on the company
