Sushi chain digests local investment

Retired Sarasota executive John Cranor, onetime president and CEO of both KFC and Long John Silver's, continues to put his restaurant knowledge to good use.

His latest venture: conveyor belt sushi.

Cranor recently joined the board of directors at Washington, D.C.-based Wasabi Co. The firm is a chain of sushi restaurants that seeks to bring a popular serving style of sushi in Japan to high-end malls in the United States. In the conveyor belt system, called Kaiten, plates of sushi are placed on a belt that runs past every counter seat and table. Customers pick up what they want off the belt, and prices are set on the color of the plates.