Pay to Skip the Line: New Service Appears at Japan’s Queue-Heavy Restaurants

[The Financial News] Popular restaurants in Japan where customers usually have to wait in line are increasingly introducing a Fast Pass service that allows people to enter first if they pay an extra fee.

On the 12th, Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Japanese information technology (IT) service company Suisui launched this business in the fall of 2023, and the service is now in use at about 80 restaurants in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and other cities.

At restaurants where you normally have to line up to get in, customers can scan a QR code with their smartphone and pay by credit card to receive a digital Fast Pass that lets them enter more quickly.

The price of a Fast Pass is adjusted flexibly depending on each restaurant’s level of congestion, the weather and other factors. During peak meal times, the Fast Pass can even cost more than the meal itself. Revenue from Fast Pass sales is split evenly between Suisui and the restaurant.

Den, a soba restaurant in Kyoto that introduced the service in the spring of 2024, saw its Fast Pass sales climb to 419,000 yen (about 3.9 million won) in November last year. At one point, the highest-priced Fast Pass sold for 8,000 yen (about 74,620 won), six times the restaurant’s average per-customer spending.

In the early stages, Suisui set a flat price of 500 yen (about 4,663 won) for the Fast Pass at some restaurants. However, after noticing that this created separate lines for regular customers and Fast Pass holders, the company built a system that changes prices based on six variables. It also capped the share of Fast Pass users at a maximum of 10% of total diners.

At first, the service drew criticism as something only for the wealthy. But Suisui’s analysis found that roughly 70% of users are actually younger people in their 20s and 30s. At some restaurants, as many as 90% of Fast Pass buyers are foreign tourists.

Keiichiro Sato, founder and CEO of Suisui, stated, "It is not a simple divide between those who have money and those who do not; the decision to buy depends on how people value their time spent waiting in line."

y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyungy27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter