Mochi Madness

First came March Madness, then Mochi Madness. When RA Sushi Bar Restaurant introduced a new mochi dessert—ice cream wrapped in sweet rice cake—servers at its 25 national locations got swept up in a month-long competition designed to launch sales. With the NCAA basketball national championship tournament as a model, brackets set up weekly rounds among the locations. Server scores—derived by total mochi sales divided by food—determined elimination for each round, although a last-chance qualifying pool allowed those who lost to try for re-entry into the next bracket. Competitors worked their way toward iPads, iPods and cash prizes—and sales of the dessert scored high.