The owner of Izumi Rotary & Bar, Springfield’s first conveyer-belt-style restaurant, says he wants to bring a new experience to the area.
“I worked as the head chef at a sushi restaurant in Dallas, Texas,” Yong Wu said. “But I got tired of the big city and wanted to settle down here – my family is all here. I had worked in a conveyer-belt restaurant in Texas and noticed there was none here, so I wanted to bring that to Springfield.”
Izumi occupies 4,000 square feet of space in the newly constructed building at 3061 Wabash Ave., adjacent to Gordon Food Service. Potbelly Sandwich Shop is slated to move in the remaining 2,000 square feet this spring.
The name comes from the Japanese word for fountain, and Wu said his goal is to combine tradition with technology.
“There will be an iPad on every table that you will order off of, and food will be delivered by a robot to your table,” he said. Wu said the menu will have more than 100 items, and the entrees will be ordered electronically. However, about half of the menu items will be passing by on a conveyer belt that passes every table.
“Every plate (on the conveyer belt) has a couple pieces of food, and it’s served a la carte,” Wu said. Plates are color coded to indicate the price point, either $2.59 or $3.59 each. “At the end, the server will count up the plates and charge based on what you had.”
Despite the use of electronics for ordering and delivering entrees, Wu said there will still be an emphasis on customer service.
“We’ll have servers to make sure that everything runs smoothly. They’ll refill drinks, and the checkout is done by a server,” he said. There is also a bar with specialty drinks and spirits
While Wu is the sole owner of Izumi, he said his sister, who owns the two Hibachi Madness restaurants in town, will be helping him with the launch.
A grand opening is planned for 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 13. The first 30 customers in the door each of the first three days will receive a free lunch entrée worth up to $15.
Wu, who is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, said there will be an ongoing 10% military discount.
Izumi will be open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 12-9 p.m. Sunday.
