Japan’s convenience stores have always been playgrounds for quirky promotions. This month, FamilyMart has decided to push the limits of fried food fandom.
On September 27th and 28th, the chain will host the Famichiki Age-Age Festival: Dream Famichiki All-You-Can-Eat (ファミチキあげあげ祭 ～夢のファミチキ食べ放題～), a two-day celebration in which customers can devour as much of the store’s iconic fried chicken cutlets as they can manage in a half-hour.
Yes, you read that right. A special feast where you can stuff your face with as much Famichiki as you like.
The rules of the feast
The format is simple. A ticket costs ¥1,000, and for that price, customers are granted thirty minutes to eat unlimited Famichiki. Both the classic version and its spicy sibling, Famichiki Red, are included. Each diner also receives two of the popular “Famichiki Buns,” a nod to the impromptu sandwiches that fans have been building at the counter for years.
The challenge, however, has guardrails. Diners must finish what’s on their plate before ordering more, and the final call for additional pieces comes at the twenty-five-minute mark. Drinks are pared down to bottled water, which is freely refillable, while other beverages must be purchased separately.
To keep things moving, anyone arriving more than ten minutes late risks forfeiting their spot. Every participant also leaves with a limited-edition Famichiki sticker as a souvenir of their fried adventure.
A nationwide limited event
The all-you-can-eat extravaganza isn’t happening everywhere. FamilyMart has limited it to ten locations nationwide, from Hokkaido in the north to Fukuoka in the south. In Kansai, eager eaters can head to the Osaka Taishō Station North store, while Hyogo’s Kyūkyoryūchi Higashi branch is also joining the festivities. Each day offers just two sessions—at 2:00pm and 3:00pm—making tickets highly coveted.
FamilyMart is upfront about the math. In its press materials, the company emphasizes that eating just five pieces covers the cost of admission.
In a previous trial run, the average customer managed six pieces in thirty minutes, while the record went to a champion who downed twelve. For some, it’s a stomach-busting challenge; for others, a bargain too good to resist.
How Famichiki became a legend
If this event sounds over the top, it’s because Famichiki itself is larger than life.
Introduced in 2006, the boneless fried chicken cutlet revolutionized konbini snacking. Unlike traditional bone-in fried chicken, Famichiki was designed to be eaten one-handed, making it the perfect grab-and-go food.
The concept caught fire. By 2017, cumulative sales had reached the billion mark, and by 2023, they had surpassed an astonishing two billion units, cementing Famichiki as FamilyMart’s best-selling item.
There are even colorful legends about the snack’s origins. Some accounts trace Famichiki back to Okinawa, where FamilyMart first tested fried chicken offerings in 2000. The runaway success of that experiment reportedly persuaded headquarters to roll it out nationwide a few years later.
While the company itself marks 2006 as the official launch year, the Okinawa connection lingers in the popular imagination. Even today, it’s said that locals sometimes use “Famichiki” as shorthand for any fried chicken sold at the store.
More than just a snack
Famichiki’s significance goes beyond its crispy coating. It represents the essence of konbini food culture: cheap, satisfying, portable, and just a little ingenious. Over the years, it’s become more than a hot snack; it’s a cultural touchstone.
For salarymen grabbing dinner on a late train, students pulling all-nighters, or tourists discovering Japan’s konbini magic for the first time, Famichiki has become a shared symbol of convenience-store life. In one Christmas campaign, it even appeared in Japanese school lunches, showing just how deeply it has embedded itself in everyday life.
That cultural resonance is what makes this all-you-can-eat festival more than a gimmick. It’s a celebration of the cutlet that helped define modern konbini food, wrapped in the thrill of a time-limited challenge. For two days this September, devotion to Famichiki will be measured not in words but in pieces eaten.
Can’t Go? Wear the slippers
Of course, not everyone can—or wants to—put their digestive system on the line. For those fans, FamilyMart has prepared a consolation prize: Famichiki-branded slippers. Sold through the company’s online store, these cozy yellow-and-white house shoes mimic the packaging of the cutlets themselves.
They’re absurd, delightful, and unmistakably Famima. Even if you can’t snag a ticket, you can shuffle around your apartment as if you’re fresh out of the konbini snack aisle. See the slippers here
When cutlet becomes culture
FamilyMart’s all-you-can-eat festival is not just about fried chicken. It’s about honoring a snack that has sold in the billions, shaped a generation of convenience-store culture, and earned its place in Japan’s culinary imagination. Famichiki began as a humble hot case item, but it has grown into something much bigger: a shared cultural shorthand, instantly recognizable and endlessly beloved.
For one weekend, fans across Japan will gather to celebrate it the best way they know how: by eating it, piece after golden, crispy piece.
And if you miss out on the campaign? Not to worry. As we’ve discussed before, this isn’t the only 30-minute all-you-can-eat fried chicken in Japan.
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Sources
- FamilyMart Official News Release – “Famichiki All-You-Can-Eat Campaign” (JP)
- FamilyMart Campaign Page – Famichiki Age-Age Festival (JP)
- Impress Gourmet Watch – Coverage of Famichiki Festival (JP)
- FamilyMart Official Release – 20 Billion Famichiki Sold (2023) (JP)
- FamilyMart Annual Report (2019) – Famichiki History (EN PDF)
- Famima Online Store – Famichiki Slippers (JP)
