So today I checked out what my friend Ed calls "Kitchen Town". I think it's actually called Kappamachi. It's a area about 4 or 5 city blocks long of nothing but restaurant supply stores.
I'm not talk about food although there were several food stores there. I'm talking about everything needed to run a restaurant. If it's not there then you probably don't need it.
Here's a short list of some of the stuff I saw.
- Glasses
- Cups
- Plates
- Bowls
- Soup Bowls
- Takeout containers in every shape and size
- Straws
- Chopsticks, disposable and nice
- Signs, custom and pre-made
- Electric Signs (the kind that scroll the words on LEDs
- Chairs
- Stools
- Tables
- Bar Stools
- Plastic food for display cases
- Large Candy making machines (like you'd find at See's)
- Giant Mixers
- Rice Cookers of all sizes
- Drink Dispensers
- Yakitori BBQ Pits
- Oden Heaters
- Entrance Flags/Drapes
- Scooter Racks for delivering soup
- Uniforms
- Custom Bottles for selling like dressings or spices
- Stone Bibimbap bowls
- Takoyaki Grills
- Pots big enough to climb into
- Display cases
That's a very short list. Most of the stores carried only a few things, for example 3 stores were only plastic food. Several stores were only plates, cups and bowls made of ceramics where as other stores were only cups, bowls and plates made of wood. The most specific store I saw was one store that only carried strainers in all shapes and sizes for things like straining ramen noodles or for pulling tempura out of the oil etc..
Next time I'm there I'll try to take some pictures.