Which brings us to what Donaldson considers the most important way that Edo Japan has evolved under his stewardship — the evolution of the street location. Donaldson says that the street locations, which have popped up in places like Beacon Hill, Aspen Landing, and Sunridge Square, have moved Edo into a different market, namely the dinner trade. Donaldson watched many of his competitors — be they burger places, taco shops, or even the sub restaurants — move into breakfast, but he knew that Japanese food wasn’t suited for the typical North American breakfast staples of bacon and eggs, so he decided to go in the opposite direction and convince people to come in for dinner. In a city where cheap take-out can be hard to come by, Edo’s street locations have seen a lot of action in the evening when people are looking for a relatively healthy dinner for less than $40. “You’re getting something that you’d be proud to feed your family if you don’t want to take your kids into a hamburger place for dinner,” Donaldson says. “We’re in the middle, bridging that gap between a two-hour evening to go to full service. For $40 you can bring your family of four here and have something that takes 25 minutes and you can feel good feeding it to yourself and to your family.” Donaldson has also been careful with the design of the street locations, making sure that they’re large enough for patrons to sit and eat comfortably without feeling rushed or like they have to scarf down their meal. Looking around the Sunridge Square restaurant during a Tuesday lunch hour, it’s clear the concept is working. There are single people reading
the paper while they leisurely eat, friends and co-workers chatting quietly over their meals, and perhaps most tellingly, a large table of uniformed police officers loudly laughing and smiling as they dig into their stir-fries and sushi. “You’ll notice that our restaurants all have a significant amount of seating,” Donaldson says. “The typical small box restaurants like sub shops or taco shops don’t have much room to sit down. We try to keep our kitchens small and our dining rooms large so that people can enjoy a break from the office or their car or wherever they are during the work day.” Even though the company has existed since 1979, the timing seems right for Edo Japan’s brand of casual food. Donaldson prefers the term “quick service” to “fast food,” (even though he smiles and admits that the two phrases essentially mean the same thing), but there definitely seems to be a trend towards quick and inexpensive food that has less guilt (and fat) attached to it than your typical Big Mac or Dorito-shelled taco. The evolving Edo Japan has more in common with increasingly popular fresher fast food like the American Chipotle chain, Canada’s Mucho Burrito, or even a corner bakery or deli. While Donaldson is hesitant to say that Edo Japan’s growth is due to some kind of health craze (he points out that the more traditional fast food restaurants aren’t exactly hurting these days), he thinks that a segment of people are demanding a certain quality when it come to the