Yamazaki is a Japanese restaurant centered around a white-wood L-shaped counter, where guests can savor seasonal ingredients and the artistry of its chefs through all five senses. Within just three months of opening in August 2018, the restaurant earned a star in the MICHELIN Guide Tokyo 2019 and has continued to draw attention from diners in Japan and abroad. Operating with a small team, the restaurant places the highest priority on the time spent face-to-face with each guest — yet it had long faced operational challenges, including the dual management of phone and online reservations and the after-hours back-office work this required. With the implementation of Respo, the restaurant has achieved unified reservation management and improved operational efficiency, while building a foundation that supports the meticulous, attentive hospitality that only counter-style dining can deliver.
Challenges Before Implementing Respo
Yamazaki faced the following on-the-ground challenges:
■After-hours administrative burden caused by dual management of phone and online reservations
- Phone and online reservations were managed in separate systems, making confirmation and information sharing time-consuming
- With a counter-only, small-team operation focused on attentive service for each guest, staff were frequently left handling administrative work after closing hours
- Entering and cross-checking reservation data was a burden on the floor, cutting into time that should have been spent on cooking and preparing for the next day
■Resistance to "complex systems" that did not fit the floor's intuition
- There was concern that overly feature-rich management tools would be hard to put to work on the floor, and could ultimately add to operational burden
- The restaurant had long been searching for a system simple enough for a small team to manage comfortably
Key Features of Respo
"Respo" is an all-in-one platform for restaurants provided by Hello, Inc., with its core features offered free of charge in Japan. It brings together a reservation ledger, channel manager, POS, payment terminal, and mobile ordering on a single platform, allowing restaurants to flexibly combine the tools they need according to their size and business model.
■What you can do with Respo
- Reservation Ledger: Connects to multiple booking channels, eliminating the need for manual transcription across platforms
- Channel Manager: Centrally manages inventory across your own website and various reservation channels
- POS / Payment Terminal: Completes accounting and payment on a single device, streamlining store operations
- Mobile Ordering: Allows guests to order from their own smartphones or tablets, reducing dwell time
- Customer Information Management: Accumulates visit history, preferences, and allergy information for use in serving returning guests
Effects of Implementing Respo
■Effect 1: Reduced administrative work and more time for cooking and preparation, through centralized reservation management
Because Respo enables both online and phone reservations to be managed in a single ledger, the burden of confirming and entering data across multiple channels has been significantly reduced. As a result, after-hours administrative work has been cut considerably, securing time for chefs to focus on cooking and on preparing for the next day. Integration with the payment terminal has also made accounting smoother, shortening the time guests spend waiting.
■Effect 2: The "layered" customer knowledge that only counter-style dining can leverage
Yamazaki has made full use of Respo's customer information features, making it a consistent practice to record not only visit history but also what was discussed, what was served, and beverage preferences for each guest. Allergies, dietary restrictions, and celebration plans are noted at the time of reservation. With guests right across the counter, having this information instantly accessible enables the kind of attentive, personalized hospitality tailored to each individual.
■Effect 3: Not just efficiency, but elevating brand value by refining "what makes Yamazaki uniquely Yamazaki"
With the stress of reservation and accounting workflows reduced, chefs and staff can now spend more time in conversation with guests at the counter, and on serving each dish at its peak moment. This newfound margin supports the restaurant's vision — "we want our guests to enjoy not only the food, but also the space and the time" — and ultimately translates into greater brand value for the restaurant as a whole.
A Message from Shiro Yamazaki, Chef-Owner of Yamazaki
The following comments were shared by Chef-Owner Shiro Yamazaki:
"The biggest reason we chose Respo was that it is 'simple and easy to use.' Systems with too many features can be difficult to put to work on the floor, and often end up adding to operational load. Respo is intuitive, and felt most aligned with the way our floor actually works."
"Beyond pure efficiency, the most significant change has been our ability to further refine what makes 'Yamazaki' uniquely 'Yamazaki.' With less stress around reservation and accounting, I can now focus on conversation with guests at the counter, and on serving each dish at the very best moment. I would truly love other restaurant professionals to experience this value for themselves — that 'as management becomes easier, the time you can devote to the floor grows.'"
A Message from Yuki Hariguchi, CEO of Hello, Inc.
"Yamazaki earned its Michelin star within just three months of opening and continues to attract attention from diners in Japan and abroad. We deeply resonate with the restaurant's commitment to valuing — above all else — the time spent face-to-face with each guest, made possible by its small-scale counter-style format. That Respo is being recognized 'not as a tool merely for efficiency, but as a system for refining what makes Yamazaki uniquely Yamazaki,' and that it is supporting the floor's renewed margin and returning that time to hospitality and craft, brings us genuine joy. As Yamazaki looks ahead to international expansion, we will continue to strengthen the multilingual capabilities of our services — including AutoReserve — so that Yamazaki's worldview can resonate across borders, and we will walk this path together."
Case Study Article
The full story is featured in an interview article with Yamazaki, published on the official Respo website. Please take a look.
▼ Case Study Article
"Reclaiming Time to Focus on Cooking and Hospitality — How the Renowned Japanese Restaurant Yamazaki Chose a Simpler Approach to Reservation Management"
