Nakato
Nakato Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar is a family-owned, single-location Japanese restaurant in Charlotte, NC, founded in 1976, serving tableside Teppan Yaki hibachi entrees, an extensive sushi menu, and carryout lunches to local consumers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1976
- HeadquartersCharlotte, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Nakato does
Nakato Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar is a privately held, family-owned Japanese restaurant operating from a single location at 8601 University Executive Park Drive in Charlotte, North Carolina. The business was founded in 1976 by the Nakato family and has served the Charlotte market across three generations, originally on Independence Boulevard, then on Pineville-Matthews Road from 1990, and at its current University-area site since 2004. The restaurant operates a full-service dine-in model anchored on tableside Teppan Yaki hibachi cooking, supplemented by a sushi bar, a carryout-only lunch window (Tuesday-Friday 11:30 am - 2:30 pm), and a third-party online ordering channel for pickup. The customer base is local Charlotte-area consumers, families, and groups purchasing individual meals on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The core product is a unified dining experience organized around three menus: a Dinner menu of hibachi entrees, combination plates, chef's selections, and children's options, all served with soup, salad, shrimp appetizer, hibachi vegetables, garlic noodles, and steamed rice; a carryout-only Lunch menu with hibachi entrees and combination specials; and an extensive Sushi menu featuring nigiri, sashimi, and 49+ specialty rolls including premium items such as Ora King Salmon and Big Eye Tuna. The business has no proprietary technology platform; the website is built on the Bentobox restaurant platform and ordering is routed through the order.online third-party integration. There is no app, no API, and no disclosed data or AI capabilities.
Nakato generates revenue entirely through restaurant operations - dine-in service, in-person carryout, and online carryout - at unit prices across the three menu tiers. There is no catering, franchising, licensing, or wholesale revenue line. The company is privately held by the Nakato family with no external investors, no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no disclosed funding events. The firm employs between 51 and 100 people, with 50+ years of continuous operation and an explicit first-mover position as the first restaurant in Charlotte to offer traditional Teppan Yaki tableside hibachi cooking.
Nakato firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Nakato
- Legal name
- Nakato Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar
- Website
- https://nakato.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1976
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Nakato Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar is a family-owned, single-location Japanese restaurant in Charlotte, NC, founded in 1976, serving tableside Teppan Yaki hibachi entrees, an extensive sushi menu, and carryout lunches to local consumers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Nakato industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Japanese Restaurant / Hibachi & Sushi Bar
- NAICS
- Full-Service Restaurants (722511)
- SIC
- Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Fine Dining Restaurants (THAFACAA)
Keywords
Where Nakato is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Charlotte
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Nakato business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Dine-in Service: Revenue generated from customers dining in at the restaurant, ordering from the dinner, lunch, and sushi menus featuring hibachi entrees, sushi rolls, appetizers, and desserts.
- Carryout/Takeout Service: Revenue from carryout orders during lunch hours (Tuesday-Friday 11:30 am - 2:30 pm) and full menu available for takeout orders.
- Online Ordering: Online ordering through third-party platform for pickup orders at the Charlotte location.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Dinner Menu - Full range of hibachi entrees, sushi, and chef's selections |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Lunch Menu - Carryout only, available until 2:30 pm |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Sushi Menu - Individual pieces, rolls, and combination plates |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Children's Menu - For guests under 12 years old |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels3 records
Nakato product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Nakato is a full-service Japanese restaurant offering hibachi table-side dining entertainment in the traditional Teppan Yaki style, an extensive sushi bar with fresh nigiri, sashimi, and specialty rolls, and traditional Japanese appetizers and entrees. The restaurant serves the Charlotte, NC market with dinner, lunch (carryout only), and sushi menu categories, including combination plates, chef's selections, and a children's menu.
Product overview
Nakato Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar is a single-location Japanese restaurant offering a unified dining experience centered on hibachi table-side cooking and an extensive sushi bar. The restaurant operates three distinct menu categories—Dinner, Lunch, and Sushi—all served from the same kitchen and sushi counter. The Dinner Menu provides full-course hibachi entrees, steak and seafood combinations, and chef's selections, while the Lunch Menu offers carryout-only abbreviated versions. The Sushi Menu features traditional nigiri, sashimi, and specialty rolls. The core offering is the interactive hibachi dining experience where chefs prepare meals tableside using traditional Teppan Yaki technique.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Dinner Menu Service Evening dine-in menu featuring appetizers (shrimp tempura, vegetable tempura, gyoza, chicken karaage, agedashi tofu), hibachi entrees (vegetable, chicken, shrimp, salmon, scallops, red snapper, NY Strip, Filet Mignon), chef's selections, combination plates, children's menu items, and desserts. All dinner entrees include Nakato Onion Soup, Salad with Ginger Dressing, Shrimp Appetizer, Hibachi Vegetables, Garlic Noodles, and Steamed Rice.
- Lunch Carryout Service
- Sushi Bar Service Extensive sushi offerings including appetizers (edamame, baked mussels, seaweed salad, hand rolls, tuna tataki, tuna carpaccio), nigiri options (crab, freshwater eel, omelet, Ora King Salmon, sea eel, scallop, shrimp, smoked salmon, smelt roe, surf clam, sweet shrimp, Big Eye Tuna, yellowtail), assorted sashimi trays, and specialty rolls (49'er, Bobcat, California, Caterpillar, Crunchy, Cucumber, Dragon, Philadelphia, Rainbow, Spider, Volcano, and more).
- Hibachi Table-Side Dining Experience Tableside dining experience featuring expert Hibachi Chefs preparing meals in the traditional Japanese Teppan Yaki cooking style, with onions, vegetables, garlic noodles, fried rice, shrimp appetizer, and onion soup served alongside entrees. Birthday specials include cake, pictures, and song for celebrations.
Companies that use Nakato
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Nakato technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Nakato partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Recent moves9 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Nakato competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Strengths4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Nakato financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Nakato leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Nakato funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Nakato M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Nakato
What does Nakato do?
Nakato is a full-service Japanese restaurant offering hibachi table-side dining entertainment in the traditional Teppan Yaki style, an extensive sushi bar with fresh nigiri, sashimi, and specialty rolls, and traditional Japanese appetizers and entrees. The restaurant serves the Charlotte, NC market with dinner, lunch (carryout only), and sushi menu categories, including combination plates, chef's selections, and a children's menu.
Is Nakato a public or private company?
Nakato is a private company. It is classified as family owned and is currently operating.
When was Nakato founded?
Nakato was founded in 1976. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Nakato based?
Nakato is headquartered in Charlotte, United States, in the North America region.
How does Nakato make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Dine-in Service is the primary driver. The others are carryout/Takeout Service and online Ordering.
Does Nakato have an API?
No public API is recorded for Nakato.
What industry is Nakato in?
Nakato's product category is Japanese Restaurant / Hibachi & Sushi Bar. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAFACAA, Fine Dining Restaurants. Its NAICS code is 722511 and its SIC code is 5810.