Tomorrow is International Sushi Day. A day in honor of the popular rice dish from Japan. Time for data specialist BoldData to roll out the numbers. The latest statistics show that the number of sushi restaurants in America has nearly doubled in the last 10 years. However, the growth seems to have come to a halt.
Sushi hype over?
Craving Sushi? There are currently 18,944 sushi restaurants in The United States. An increase of 57% compared to 2011. In this year there were 11,939 sushi shops. Especially 2017 was a good year for the Japanese snack: with an increase of 1,868 sushi shops (12%). 2018 seems to be a tipping point for the popularity of sushi, from this moment the growth slows down. In 2021 there is even a decrease of 311 restaurants for the first time.
First sushi shop in L.A.
In 1966 Kawafuku Restaurant, based in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, was the first real sushi restaurant in The Unites States. By the late 1960s, sushi had become trendy and new sushi restaurants were opening up all across the city. Hitting 50 sushi shops in the year 1970. Nowadays L.A. is still the sushi place to be with 833 sushi shops. New York is also a good place to satisfy your sushi cravings with 467 restaurants, a growth of 72% compared to 2011.
Japan 1st, US 2nd
It’s not a surprise that Japan is home to the highest number of sushi restaurants: 42,897. USA comes in second with 18,944 sushi shops. Canada completes the top 3 with 2,529 sushi restaurants. Canada, UK and Germany are the only countries where the number of sushi restaurants is still growing.
