In Southern California alone, there are at least 10 Chubby Group eateries, including Chubby Cattle and Wagyu Factory in Orange County, an all-you-can-eat Wagyu yakiniku and hot pot restaurant, respectively.
Mikiya is only marginally different from those two. As a Japanese shabu shabu restaurant, you’re boiling the marbled beef at Mikiya, instead of grilling it at Chubby Cattle. And at Mikiya you only get four broth choices instead of the six that make Wagyu Factory more of a Chinese hot pot joint.
This leaves the thing they all have in common — the seemingly endless supply of Wagyu. How did they manage to commoditize this luxury ingredient? The answer: Pricing power through exclusive partnerships with actual cattle ranches, eliminating the middleman and making Chubby Group not only the Walmart of Wagyu but also, according to its website, the largest importer of Japanese Wagyu in the U.S.