Photo/Illutration Akindo Sushiro Co. unveils products for its new 260-yen ($1.90) black plates at one of its sushi restaurants in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward on May 29. (Tomohiko Kaneko)

The nation’s leading conveyer belt sushi chain operator has expanded its lineup of inexpensive plates to woo cost-conscious diners ... and get them to splurge a bit when they do go out to eat.

As part of its menu revamp, Akindo Sushiro Co. also introduced the “white plate,” whose price varies, depending on availability, procurement costs and sizes of toppings, among other factors.

Flexibility in offerings is key, the company says.

Previously, Sushiro restaurants offered dishes in three colors.

“Some customers have mentioned that they felt quite hesitant about going for 360-yen plates,” the company’s president, Kohei Nii, said during a Tokyo news conference in late May. “We came up with a price range to make our dishes as affordable as possible.”

Suburban restaurants, which constitute 85 percent of the company’s approximately 640 outlets nationwide, served sushi on 120-yen ($0.86) yellow plates, 180-yen red plates and 360-yen black plates.

The black plates are now priced at 260 yen.

The company said it didn’t simply reduce the price because it introduced new items and revised product content.

It added 14 items, including seasonal offerings, to its lineup of the most inexpensive and sought-after yellow plate. The result is a roughly 10 percent increase in the number of sushi items, which now number at least 80 offerings.

Sushiro uses the newly introduced white plate to serve toppings that had been difficult to provide under the previous pricing system.

As of May 31, it began offering five dishes, including crab claw and “anago” conger eel, for 360 yen.

Prices of plate will vary depending on the toppings and flexibility in offering, according to the president.

For instance, some plates will be cheaper than the yellow plate while others will be sold at prices between the red and black plates.

In the period between October 2022 and this past March, Sushiro saw a 17.3 percent drop in customers and a 15.2 percent decline in sales year on year among existing outlets following scandals that included bait-and-switch advertising as well as price hikes that October.

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