New, conveyor belt style restaurant opening in Springfield will be city's first

Conveyor belt sushi restaurants where diners select their meal from a variety of dishes paraded by them on a conveyor belt originated in Japan in the 1950s.

And now the automated dining concept is finally making its way to Springfield with construction underway at 3061 Wabash Ave. for the new restaurant slated to be called Izumi.

Steve Zhao, who co-owns the 5,300-square-foot building rising out of the parking lot between Gordon Food Service and the strip mall that houses Jo-Ann Fabrics and Bard Optical, confirmed details about the tenant signed for the spot.

“He’s an ex-Marine from Hawaii and a sushi chef, most recently operating in the Dallas area who is bringing a conveyor belt restaurant to Springfield,” said Zhao. “It will offer sushi and other Asian cuisine.”

Izumi is Japanese for spring or fountain.

Zhao said building construction is on track to be completed by late August, which would position the restaurant for an opening in the fourth quarter of 2024 or first quarter 2025.

This work site is only one construction zone on Wabash Avenue Zhao is overseeing this summer. He is also one of the partners involved in The Feast Buffet that is expected to open in the expanded footprint of the former Show-Me’s on South MacArthur Boulevard this fall.

Both of these newcomers into the local dining scene highlight Asian cuisine but offer very different dining concepts.

The Feast Buffet will be serving up an all-you-can-eat spread featuring a variety of Asian cuisine and meat carving stations, as well as a full arcade known as Funkiddo. The vibe is aimed at mimicking the Dallas-based Dave and Buster’s chain that serves food with a side of fun.

More: New Springfield restaurant will have Dave & Buster's concept

The conveyor belt concept, however, combines food and tech in a whole different way.

The story goes that concept inventor Yoshiaki Shiraishi struggled to staff his small sushi establishment. Inspiration hit while visiting a brewery and watching beer bottles travel along a conveyor belt.

Shiraishi opened his first conveyor belt restaurant, known in Japan as Kaiten-sushi, which translates as “rotation sushi”, in Higashiosaka, Japan in 1958. Upon his death in 2001, he operated 11 conveyor belt restaurants throughout Japan.

Conveyor belt restaurants boomed in 1970 after the dining concept was used at the Osaka World Expo.

Shiraishi’s other fast food staffing workaround, a sushi restaurant where robots delivered dishes, never gained similar traction.

Today, chains such as Sushiro and Kura Sushi operate more than 500 locations throughout Japan.

Cafe renovations

The Ariston Cafe in Litchfield recently underwent a $75,000 renovation. But don’t worry because the Route 66 landmark still feels like a time capsule back to the Mother Road’s heydays.

“We’ve kept it age appropriate,” said William “Will” Law, who co-owns the renowned spot with wife Michele Law and Marty and Kara Steffens, “We didn’t take anything away, if anything, we’ve restored some of the 1930’s charm.”

More: Is this Springfield diner really 100 years old?

The work, done with the help of a grant aimed at shining up Route 66 attractions before the famous road’s 100th birthday in 2026, included some structural repair to the 1935 art deco building, as well as freshening up the interior.

But the “Remember Where Good Food Is Served” neon sign still hangs over the lunch counter and the original, chrome hat racks mounted to the booths harken back to another era.

Renovations were completed just in time for the cafe to celebrate its centennial anniversary in July.

Greek immigrant Pete Adams originally opened his cafe in Carlinville on Route 4 in 1924, before Route 66 carved across the country from Chicago to LA. Adams eventually relocated The Ariston Cafe to its current home in 1935.

The stop offered Route 66 travelers a rest from the road, a bite to eat and fuel. The two gas pumps in front of the building were later removed by Pete’s son Nick Adams, who with his wife Demi, ran the business until 2018.

The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 with this written in its application: “The Ariston Cafe remains a rare survivor of the type of family-owned restaurants that flourished along Route 66 in Illinois during the mid-20th century. It is a well-known landmark and a direct link to the history of Route 66.”

'An investment in our future'

Customers have gathered around the soda fountain at Docs Just Off 66 in Girard since 1884. A $50,000 grant, awarded Tuesday, in part, by American Express, aims to ensure this central Illinois landmark continues to thrive well into the future.

Funds from the Backing Historic Small Restaurant Grant Program will be spent converting an 1870s era outbuilding behind Docs Just Off 66 into a bar and meat smokehouse, as well as creating an outdoor seating area.

More: A cockroach, flies, mold, expired food all found in Springfield-area kitchens in June

“My first thought was, ‘How fantastic this is going to be for our community,’” Casey Claypool, who owns Docs with her husband Steve, said of receiving the grant money. “It’s an investment in our future.

“Our kitchen is at capacity and our cooks are dying to get into that (smoked meats) realm.”

Claypool said the outbuilding has been vacant since the 1940s. But the structure was used to store horse equipment when it was built in the 1870s, before being converted into bathrooms in the early 1900s, she said.

Construction is scheduled to begin later this month and wrap up by January 2025.

Docs Just Off 66 was one of 50 small restaurants throughout the country to be awarded the grant in 2024. This is the fourth year for the grant – issued in conjunction by the not-for-profit National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express.

Only four other Illinois businesses have received this grant. Old Fashioned Donuts in Chicago was also named this week and Flesor’s Candy Kitchen in Tuscola and Jeff’s Red Hots in Chicago were among the 2023 recipients.

The Girard business began as Deck’s Store, a pharmacy and soda fountain, in 1884. It continued doing business as Doc’s Soda Fountain from 2001 through 2021 under the operation of various owners, until the Claypools purchased and rechristened the business.

The local draw still displays artifacts from early medical practice from its predecessors, as well as a considerable collection of Coca Cola memorabilia. Offerings include a full lunch and dinner menu, bar and soda fountain.

This is the second grant the Girard business has been awarded this year. Work began this week to replace some of the original windows to the building on the Girard square. The $10,000 grant for the project was part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Route 66 Legacy Grant.

The A La Carte column highlights restaurant openings, closings, renovations and relocations, as well as personnel changes and business news. Natalie Morris can be reached at 217/737-7254 or by email at natalie.sjr@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Izumi will be first conveyor style belt restaurant in Springfield