Sushiro Taiwan’s Free-Flow Salmon Sushi Promotion Leaves Massive Rice Wastage
People just ate the salmon and discarded the rice.
Kiasu-ism is clearly an international thing, as proven by the recent “Salmon Chaos” that gripped Taiwan’s dining scene. The viral incident started when conveyor belt sushi chain Sushiro ran a free all-you-can-eat promotion from March 17 to 18 for customers whose identity card names had the word “Salmon” in it.
This caused about 200 people to change their legal names to take advantage of the promotion. One student was nearly irreversibly stuck with the moniker of “Salmon Dream Chang”, after he almost maxed out his quota for name changes unknowingly. Fortunately, he was allowed to change it back.
Another controversy pops up: food wastage
But another controversy emerged from Salmon Chaos-gate. Those who qualified for the promotion went to claim their free sushi meals at Sushiro’s outlets. They ordered rounds of salmon sushi and stuffed their faces with the fish, but discarded the rice. This is so that they can fill up on more portions of the pricier salmon.
Mountains of rice
Facebook group Kaobai Sushiro ran photos of messy tables left behind by diners who came for the free sushi. Calling themselves the “Salmoners” (now that’s a great band name), the diners stacked up dozens of empty plates topped with mounds of abandoned sushi rice.
Sushiro staff members tell The Asahi Shimbun that since the promotion had no restrictions, their customers unrestrainedly ordered massive amounts of sushi. As the wastage generated from the promotion was six times more than that of a typical weekend, the heartbroken staff implored diners not to waste food.
There’s no such thing as bad publicity
Sushiro Taiwan caught online flak for their promotion, with some netizens criticising the sushi chain for encouraging greedy behaviour. Sushiro’s management is apparently unfazed, telling The Asahi Shimbun that they are considering similar promotions in the future for customers with “eel” and “tuna” in their names. But hey, living in a civilised society means trusting that its people can take care of nice things, right?
Photos: Kaobai Sushiro/ Facebook
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