Japanese Kobe beef croquettes have 43-year waitlist — but what's hype?

It will take an additional 43 years to receive an order for a package of frozen Kobe beef croquettes from Asahiya, a family-run butcher business in Takasago City, Hyogo Prefecture, in western Japan.

Asahiya, which was established in 1926, sold meat products from Hyogo prefecture for many years, including Kobe beef, before introducing beef croquettes to the market in the years after World War II.

However, it wasn't until the early 2000s that these beef and potato dumplings, which are deep-fried, gained popularity online and led to the absurdly lengthy lines that customers today have to endure.

In 2022, Shigeru Nitta, the third-generation proprietor of Asahiya, was interviewed by CNN Travel. The wait for the croquettes was only thirty years at that point.

Asahiya offers four varieties of Kobe beef croquettes, one of which is the widely sought-after "Extreme Croquettes." Not able to wait over forty years? There is presently a more than four-year waitlist for the store's Premier Kobe Beef Croquettes.

“We started selling our products through online shopping in 1999,” Nitta said. “At that time, we offered Extreme Croquettes as a trial.”

The Extreme Croquettes' inexpensive price tag belies the high calibre of the ingredients. Fresh and free of preservatives, they are prepared every day. Potatoes from a nearby ranch and three-year-old A5-ranked Kobe beef are among the ingredients.