Your Wagyu Menu Is Too Expensive. Here’s the Cut You’re Probably Ignoring.

The Problem: Wagyu Sells the Brand, But Ribeye and Striploin Eat the Margin

Wagyu on a menu does real work for a restaurant. It signals quality, supports a higher average check, and gives guests something worth talking about.

But many restaurants build their entire Wagyu program around the same three cuts: ribeye, striploin, and tenderloin.

Those are the cuts everyone knows. They are also the cuts where demand is highest, prices are often strongest, and competition is hardest.

The opportunity is to look beyond the famous cuts.

The case for lesser-known Wagyu cuts

Cuts from the same animal can offer a very different price point while still sharing the same Wagyu origin and production story.

The advantage isn’t simply that these cuts are less expensive. It’s that they allow a restaurant to use Wagyu in ways that aren’t limited to a large steak on a plate.

Think sliced preparations, sharing dishes, slow-cooked dishes, sandwiches, tasting portions and other formats that can bring Wagyu to more customers.

Why Secondary Cuts Work Financially

More accessible pricing. High-demand cuts naturally attract more competition. Lesser-known cuts can provide an opportunity to create Wagyu dishes at a different price point without simply discounting the flagship steak.

More menu flexibility. Not every Wagyu dish needs to be a 250-gram ribeye. A bavette can be sliced and served with a composed dish. Short rib can become a slow-cooked centerpiece. Tri-tip can work beautifully as a roast or carving presentation.

The cut changes. The Wagyu story doesn’t.

Better use of the whole animal. This is perhaps the biggest opportunity. A Wagyu carcass contains far more than the cuts that dominate restaurant menus. Making good use of the entire animal isn’t just an economic consideration. It is part of understanding Japanese butchery and the value of the product. For a restaurant, that can mean more menu options. For a supplier, it can mean better planning and more efficient utilization.

Enter: The Cut You’ve Probably Been Overlooking

If there’s one cut that sums up the whole idea, it’s the chuck roll.

Chuck roll comes from the shoulder and is often overlooked in favor of more familiar loin cuts. But in Wagyu, it can offer substantial marbling and a rich eating experience at a more accessible price point than the cuts most restaurants build their Wagyu menus around.

The difference is that chuck roll requires a little more work from the kitchen. It’s a larger, less uniform cut that can be broken down into different portions and sub-cuts, each suited to a different preparation.

That flexibility is exactly what makes it interesting.

A single chuck roll can be used for smaller steaks, sliced preparations, or composed dishes, giving a restaurant more ways to put Japanese Wagyu on the menu without relying entirely on ribeye or striploin.

The point isn’t that chuck roll is better than those cuts. It’s that it gives a restaurant more options.

And when you’re trying to build a Wagyu program that works commercially, more options can make a big difference.

This is where understanding the whole animal starts to matter.

How to Make It Work on the Menu

The cut itself isn’t what makes a dish feel premium. The way you present it does.

1. Sell the story, not just the cut. Japanese Wagyu, its origin, producer, and grade can tell a much stronger story than simply putting “chuck roll” on the menu.

2. Let the kitchen use its flexibility. Chuck roll can be broken down and prepared in different ways, allowing chefs to create multiple dishes from the same primal rather than treating it as a single-purpose cut.

3. Give customers a reason to try it. Not everyone knows chuck roll. That’s an opportunity. A well-designed dish and a good explanation from the server can turn an unfamiliar cut into something customers actively want to order.

The Bigger Opportunity

The goal isn’t to replace ribeye or striploin. Those cuts have earned their place.

It’s to build a Wagyu offering that goes further.

Understanding the whole animal gives restaurants more options: different cuts, different dishes, different price points, and different ways to introduce customers to Japanese Wagyu.

At NIKUJILLE, that’s how we approach Wagyu. The question isn’t simply “What’s the highest grade?” or “What’s the most famous cut?”

It’s “What makes sense for this customer, this dish, and this business?”

Sometimes, the most interesting Wagyu on the menu is the cut your competitors aren’t serving.