Benihana records 11.8% increase in 3rd-Q sales to $61.9MBenihana records 11.8% increase in 3rd-Q sales to $61.9M

MIAMI Benihana Inc., operator or franchisor of 96 restaurants, including the 76-unit namesake teppanyaki chain, posted a year-over-year, same-store sales jump of 9.3 percent at corporate units systemwide, which helped boost the company’s fiscal 2007 third-quarter restaurant sales by 11.8 percent to $61.9 million.

Restaurant sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31 were negatively impacted by about $2.8 million, the company said, because of temporary unit closures for renovations.

The corporate-wide same-store sales increase reflected gains of 8.1 percent at the Benihana teppanyaki chain, 11.9 percent at RA Sushi and 14.5 percent at Haru.