How Did Jack King Eat 579 Benihana Meals In One Year?

It’s a fact that the Benihana restaurant chain serves amazing Asian food, whether that be at their branches across North America or in Europe.

But there is one man who has to be the biggest Benihana fan in the world, proved by the fact he ate a record-breaking 579 meals at the restaurants in just one year! That’s an average of 1.5 Benihana meals a day.

At 51, Jack King, from Salt Lake City is no worse of for binging at Benihana, as he told ABC News, “I went seven days a week this year. And if I was out of town in a bigger market, I’d hit a couple a day.”

King’s fascination with Benihana started when the chain announced its “Passport Challenge,” a yearlong promotion that awarded the top-frequenting visitor with a free trip for two to the Benihana location of his choice and a $1,000 gift card.

As the manager of the Salt Lake City branch of the chain, TJ Chagzoetsang, told ABC, “Jack is a regular and a very nice customer. We had quite a few people participate, but in our region nobody came even close to him. We’re very happy for him.”

Even though around 19,000 people took part in the clever promotion, no one even came close to Jack King, with the next highest visit number standing at 300.

As the Benihana addict told reporters,”I already eat at Benihana a lot anyway, and then I was encouraged by the manager so I figured I’ll do this and eat healthy. It wasn’t really that big of a deal since it’s sort of two restaurants in one where I can eat from the teppan table one day and the sushi lounge the next and change it up a bit.”

King’s usual lunch was either the salmon lunch boat with brown rice or the shrimp and chicken express lunch with brown or fried rice.

Despite the fact that the 579 Benihana visits cost Jack around $6,900, he did lose 20 pounds, proving that Asian food really is healthy and dietetic.

[Image via chihuo]