Japan Restaurant Operators Expanding Offerings
Major Japanese restaurant operators are venturing into offering dishes outside of their specialities, as they grapple with challenges such as rising ingredient prices and changes in demand following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Attracting new customers through forays into new areas has become essential for eatery firms as they face limited growth potential in their existing businesses.
Matsuya Foods Holdings Co., a "gyudon" beef-on-rice restaurant operator, launched its first ramen shop, Matsutaro, in Tokyo's busy Shinjuku district in July. It expects to attract employees from nearby companies as customers by offering soy sauce ramen at an affordable 680 yen per bowl.
Another gyudon restaurant chain, Yoshinoya Holdings Co., is actively acquiring regional ramen shops.
The efforts are aimed at diversifying risk, as the business of gyudon, which has few ingredients, is swayed heavily by rises in rice prices.
Skylark Holdings Co., which operates the family restaurant chain Gusto, acquired last autumn the operator of the "udon" noodle chain Sukesan Udon, which originated in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The company aims to expand its lineup of affordable products by leveraging the low-cost structure of udon restaurants.
"Izakaya" pub chain operator Watami Co., which struggles with a decline in alcohol consumption, especially among the youth, last autumn acquired Subway Japan G.K., which operates sandwich shops. The move is designed to "make the (Watami) brand popular among young people once again," Chairman and CEO Miki Watanabe has said.
Gyukaku barbecue restaurant operator Colowide Co., which has its roots in the izakaya business, started meal services for medical and welfare facilities in 2019. The company expects demand for the new business to grow due to Japan's societal ageing.
"We have advantages that other meal service companies don't have, such as collaboration with our restaurant brands," Colowide President Kohei Nojiri said.
Akira Nakagawa, researcher at the Deloitte Tohmatsu Strategy Institute, said that consumer preferences have changed significantly through the pandemic. "There were moves to diversify businesses in the past, but they have become more active in recent years," he said.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
