Kirby Café

In Nintendo's May 2016 corporate restructuring plans, the company announced that it would expand into new businesses including restaurants.[1][2] Two months later, Kirby Café was formally unveiled in Osaka and opened in August as the first in a Japan-only chain. A second location in opened in Tokyo soon after, followed by a merchandise-only location in Nagoya.[1]

On July 7, 2016, Kirby Café's Twitter account posted its first tweet which teased the upcoming opening of the café.[3] Kirby Café was eventually opened to the public in September 2018, albeit in a temporary capacity. However, by January 22, 2021, the concept was apparently popular enough for many of the locations to become permanent. This included the location in Solamachi whose gift shop, previously located on a separate floor, was closed and was slated to move to the café proper in March 2021.[4][5] Kirby Café locations require an advance reservation to visit, and reservations are often sold out for months in advance.[6]

The restaurant sells food in the theme of Kirby, a Nintendo video character and franchise. Food includes drinks, pastries, noodles, and teriyaki. Some items resemble Kirby, such as the custard cakes, and others were within the series theme, such as a tomato soup dish that resembles the Maxim Tomato power-up, and the face of the boss character Whispy Woods constructed from beans, bread, and meat. Some items have little resemblance to the series apart from a sticker bearing the likeness of one of the characters.[1]

Kirby Café serves food such as burgers and pizza albeit with a distinctive Kirby theme. The most expensive item, "Kirby Cafe’s Stone-Oven Pizza ~Half & Half~", costs ¥3,980.[6] Most dishes are priced within the range of ¥1,500 to ¥2,600.[7] The restaurant also has temporary seasonal offerings such as a chocolate pizza, served on a board shaped like Kirby inhaling, that was added to the restaurant's winter menu on January 15, 2021 and was served until February 28.[8] For its "Sweet New Year 2021" celebration the Kirby Café added a "hamburger" to its menu consisting of a slice of strawberry standing in for the tomato and a dollop of chocolate mousse for the patty.[9]

Kirby Café also sells merchandise through stores within the restaurant, including magnets, mugs, neck pillows, postcards, kitchenware, and tote bags containing the series characters. The stores do not require a reservation to visit. The music that plays within the café was arranged by the composers who work on the Kirby video games; these soundtracks are sold at the stores as The Sound of Kirby Café, with two volumes released in August 2016 and December 2019. Some merchandise, such as figurines, can only be purchased as part of a meal.[6]