When it comes to seafood, there’s nothing quite like sushi.
Some might even consider sushi the ultimate seafood dish.
Whether you’re a fan of sushi or not, you may have noticed that sushi tends to be expensive.
Considering that it isn’t as large as some other seafood dishes, you may wonder what makes it so expensive.
Why Is Sushi So Expensive? (10 Reasons)
The average price of a sushi roll at a casual restaurant is between $12 and $15.
More expensive restaurants might charge $20 to $30 per roll.
Sushi is expensive due to the cost of its ingredients, the labor costs of sushi restaurants, and the use of expensive cocktails or sides that go along with sushi dishes.
Let’s look at these factors in more detail.
1. Inland Seafood Restaurants
While you can find several different seafood restaurants along the coast, there are also plenty of seafood restaurants inland as well.
Sushi restaurants are no exception.
Some restaurant owners who want to take advantage of the popularity of sushi have opened restaurants far from the coast.
While this means that more people have the opportunity to try sushi, it also means they’re paying higher prices for it.
That’s because the costs of running a seafood restaurant are typically higher the further away the restaurant is from the coast.
The restaurant has to pay more expensive transport costs since the fish needs to arrive at the restaurant as fresh as possible.
Since there are more costs associated with transporting fish to inland restaurants, the restaurant faces higher operation costs.
To cover those costs, they have to sell their dishes at higher prices.
Sushi is expensive because inland restaurants have higher seafood acquisition costs.
2. Exotic Varieties Of Fish
Another reason sushi is expensive is that sometimes rare types of fish are used in rolls.
Depending on where the seafood restaurant is, some might only have access to more common types of fish.
They might use those fish as the main staple in their sushi rolls since it’s cheap for them to acquire.
Other restaurants, however, prefer to attract customers to their businesses by offering sushi that features rare fish.
One such fish is the blowfish.
Many people know the blowfish as the pufferfish.
Besides famously expanding in size when threatened, it’s also covered in toxic spikes.
Some restaurants serve sushi made out of pufferfish despite its toxicity.
That’s because experienced chefs know exactly how to cook it to make it safe to eat.
That said, there’s always some risk when eating sushi made out of pufferfish.
If the chef makes even one small mistake, then it could have lethal consequences.
Despite that danger, there are some people who love taking the risk.
As such, you’ll find that sushi made from pufferfish tends to be on the expensive side.
For one, it’s not quite as common an ingredient as other types of fish.
It’s also more dangerous which means that thrill-seekers are often willing to pay more for an experience they can’t get anywhere else.
Sushi is expensive when it is made with a rare type of fish like pufferfish.
3. High-Quality Rice And Rice Prices
Another common staple of sushi is rice.
It serves as a nice base or filling for the sushi roll.
While rice is typically a cheaper food, that isn’t always the case.
Some sushi restaurants, for example, focus on using high-quality rice.
They want rice packed with flavor or that is a certain size or texture.
This rice tends to be more expensive because growing it is a bit more costly.
Farmers have to spend a bit more money on their rice if they want it to be high-quality.
Since they’re taking on higher costs, they’re going to charge more for their rice.
Restaurants end up having higher costs as a result, so they charge more for their dishes that use high-quality rice.
Certain environmental factors can also impact the price of rice.
When drought strikes in certain regions, like California or China, it can impact the rice market.
Since rice requires a lot of water to grow, a drought can make it impossible to grow rice.
There simply isn’t enough water for the rice to survive.
As a result, there’s a smaller yield of rice on the global market.
With a shortage, restaurants have to spend more money to source their rice.
Consequently, their food becomes more expensive.
Sushi is expensive because rice can sometimes be expensive to source.
4. Upscale Restaurants
When it comes to sushi restaurants, you have your mix of casual sushi restaurants and upscale ones.
Just like traditional fine-dining restaurants, upscale sushi restaurants lean toward luxury.
They might have comfortable seating options or even have chefs who interact with the guests throughout the experience.
Others might focus on the quality of the food.
They might use expensive fish or other ingredients to make their sushi rolls stand apart from the rest.
Some might use rare fish or even odd types of meat to make the sushi.
For example, some might choose to use horse meat instead of fish meat as the main protein source for the roll.
Others might use octopus or other unique fish.
While the expense of the ingredients might be one reason behind the higher costs, the experience and ambiance of the restaurant also influence the higher prices.
When you visit an upscale restaurant, you typically expect it to have high prices.
That reinforces the expectation which allows the restaurant to charge higher prices.
Sushi is expensive when it’s served at a high-end or upscale restaurant.
5. Professional Chefs And Labor Costs
Like other restaurants, sushi restaurants can also become famous for having a certain executive chef on staff.
There are sushi chefs who have the same popularity and skill level as many chefs you see on TV.
Some people may even respect these chefs more than the famous ones since they tend to stay out of the limelight.
They let their food do the talking for them.
These types of sushi chefs are practical artisans.
They not only make sushi dishes that taste incredible, but they also present them in beautiful ways.
The level of experience and skill that a sushi chef has determines how expensive they are to hire.
If a restaurant has one of the best sushi chefs in the industry working for them, then you can expect their sushi to be expensive.
For one, it means their labor costs are higher.
Since they’re paying their chef a lot of money, they need to charge higher prices to cover those costs.
They’re also charging extra for the experience.
You won’t be able to get the same quality of sushi anywhere else since the chef only works for that restaurant.
Sushi is expensive because of the labor costs associated with professional chefs and the experience they offer.
6. Growing Popularity
Despite sushi’s particular flavor and focus on raw ingredients, it has been gaining in popularity.
Some people have an interest in trying it because it’s currently “all the rage.”
It’s a trendy food that is becoming more and more popular in the United States.
While sushi is quite common in Asian countries, it isn’t a staple food in the United States just yet.
With each passing year, however, more and more people are starting to try it.
This makes sushi expensive because it means there’s more demand for the main ingredients used to make typical sushi rolls.
With higher demand comes higher prices.
That’s especially true when there are shortages of certain ingredients.
Fish, in particular, is quite regulated depending on the type of fish it is.
If there isn’t enough to go around due to the popularity of sushi, then the price is going to be higher.
Sushi is expensive because it’s beginning to become a more popular dish with increasing demand.
7. Seasonal Fish
Some sushi also uses fish that is seasonal.
Not every type of fish is available all year long.
They might only come close to shore or close to the surface during a certain part of the year.
During that time, fishermen are able to catch a large number of those fish.
Outside of that time, fishing for that specific fish might be difficult.
This means that there’s usually a shortage of fish for certain sushi dishes.
When there isn’t a high supply, it means the sushi restaurants all have to compete with one another for the fish that are available for purchase.
Usually, whoever has the most money to spend on fish is able to acquire the most.
Since these restaurants had to take on higher costs to source their fish, they charge higher prices for their sushi.
Others might choose to import their fish.
Their prices might be more reasonable when the fish is in season, but when it’s not in season, they might have to import the fish from areas where it is currently in season.
Since they’re importing the fish, they’re hit with high fees and costs.
Sushi is expensive because some fish are seasonal and this can impact their availability.
8. Sustainable Fishing
Overfishing is a real concern for fishermen and seafood enjoyers alike.
When overfishing occurs, it can cause a mass extinction of several different fish species.
If one species disappears, it can impact the ocean’s food web.
It might result in the decline of other species that relied on the extinct species as a food source.
As such, a lot of governments have started implementing regulations to combat overfishing.
These regulations essentially cap how many fish corporations are able to source each season.
While this can help fish populations, it also means that there’s a shortage of certain types of fish.
Once the various sushi restaurants have gone through their stores of meat, they have to turn to other types of meat to continue filling orders.
This also means that they have to pay higher prices for certain types of fish.
Since they’re facing higher costs, they’re going to be selling their sushi rolls at higher prices to offset them.
Sushi is expensive because sustainable sourcing tends to be more expensive.
9. Premium Drinks Added To The Meal
At some sushi restaurants, you’re not just paying for sushi.
You’re also paying for the drinks or side dishes that the restaurant includes in the meal.
One of the most popular drinks that go with sushi is saké.
Saké is a type of alcohol that comes from fermented rice.
It can be a bit expensive if the price of rice is expensive.
It’s also not always common outside of US sushi restaurants.
Because some restaurants will give you a cup of saké with your sushi, they sneakily add the price to your sushi, making it more expensive.
Sushi is expensive when it comes with saké or other side dishes.
10. Spice Costs
A final reason sushi is expensive is that it uses expensive spices.
Whether using soy sauce or another type of spice, sushi chefs know how to showcase their flavors.
The problem with spices is that they can sometimes be expensive.
Whether they have expensive growing costs, they’re rare, or they’re just highly valued, certain spices can make your dish a bit more expensive.
Sushi is expensive because of the high cost of certain spices.
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