Japan Food Service Journal articles from March 2002

Japan Food Service Journal archives from March 2002

Seiyo Food Systems becomes subsidiary of Compass Group of U.K.
March 25, 2002... Seiyo Food Systems has become a subsidiary of the UK's Compass Group, a leading food service company. The acquisition by Compass Group is seen as part of growing globalization as well as a trend wherein an oligopoly of food service operators...

Food and drink shops of Watami Food Service, others, opening in Hong Kong.
March 25, 2002... Japanese food service stores are gaining a foothold in Hong Kong. Watami Food Service opened its first overseas izakaya (traditional Japanese-style pub) there last November, and Will Corporation and Chanto have also set up businesses. The...

Thirty-four food service businesses and seven hotels go bankrupt in October.
March 25, 2002... Tokyo Shoko Research's report on October 2001 bankruptcies shows that 34 food service businesses and seven hotels were among the 1843 total cases of bankruptcy during the month. These included cases blamed on mad-cow disease and terrorism in...

Yoshinoya opens beef bowl restaurant in New York.
March 25, 2002... Yoshinoya D & C has opened its first beef bowl restaurant in New York City. The shop is additionally its one-thousandth restaurant worldwide. The company held a tasting party at a hotel on December 17 and invited officials from the city and...

Itochu Corporation opens Dean & DeLuca shops.
March 25, 2002... Itochu Corporation has acquired the license to use the Dean & DeLuca brand name. The company will open Japanese cafes and food and sundries shops under that name and produce licensed goods. Dean & Deluca's image for high quality...

McDonald stops weekday half-price sale of hamburgers.
March 25, 2002... McDonald's Japan has stopped selling its basic hamburger for half-price (65 yen) on weekdays, but is instead offering the burger for 80 yen everyday. Similarly, cheeseburgers and fish filet sandwiches that had sold at half-price (80 and 120...

Toshin advances into food service industry.
March 25, 2002... Toshin, which operates a chain of 79 cell phone retail stores, is branching into the food service industry. It has partnered with Venture Link and will run 10 Tully's Coffee franchises in Nagoya. For Tully's Japan, the deal helps it...

Prince Hotels reduces regular accommodations charges.
March 25, 2002... Prince Hotels has taken the uncommon step of reducing accommodations charges at all but one of the 73 first-class hotels operating under its name as it seeks to lift occupancy rates. Guests at the Minakami Kogen Prince Hotel in Gunma...

Akatsuki BP expands food service business including take out ice cream shop.
March 25, 2002... Akatsuki BP, traditionally a printing company, opened six yakitori (grilled poultry) shops in 2001 and looks forward to expanding its food service operations in 2002. It plans to have about 50 of the Sohonke Ogiya yakitori shops in operation...

Doutor Coffee expanding outlets with station "parent" and "child" shops scheme.
March 25, 2002... Within three years Doutor Coffee plans to add 70 to 80 new coffee shops through a new model of "parent" and "child" shops around busy train stations. The first parent coffee shop opened recently in JR Hiroshima Station, using space that had...

Hiramatsu's new restaurant to appeal with ties to famous French establishment.
March 25, 2002... Hiramatsu plans an autumn opening for a new French restaurant affiliated with the three-star Le Jardin des Sens. The shop will employ a French chef to visit Japan several times each year to make sure the new site is faithful to its roots....

Prime Link allies with other franchise operators in aggressive shop-opening plan.
March 25, 2002... Prime Link, a Nasdaq Japan company that operates multiple food service franchise shops, is joining forces with six other franchise businesses to open 200 shops per year over the next five years. Besides Prime Link, the group includes...

Joyfull family restaurants add pub-type menu selections.
March 25, 2002... The Joyfull chain of family restaurants, which has been opening 100 shops per year in the Kyushu area, is now slowing the pace of expansion and instead reviewing its menu. Its established family-restaurant menu has consisted of inexpensive...

Create Restaurants plans 130% increase in outlets.
March 25, 2002... Satisfied that its existing restaurants in the Tokyo and Osaka areas are doing well, Create Restaurants has announced plans to boost its number of outlets from about two dozen to 56 over the next year. Its current holdings include Shikuro...

Doutor Coffee orders new store operating system from Sorimachi Giken.
March 25, 2002... Seeking to boost worker productivity and streamline the ordering process, Doutor Coffee has asked Sorimachi Giken to implement its store operating system for Doutor's directly managed and franchise shops. The system provider, based in Nagaoka...

Specialty Coffee Association of Japan holds first barista skills competition.
March 25, 2002... The Japan Barista Championship took place in November of last year with awards for best espresso and best siphon technique. Hiroyuki Kadowaki, operator of Cafe Rosso in Arai City, took home the honors in the espresso division, while Takashi...

Quelto offers food photo rental on CD-ROM.
March 25, 2002... Quelto started marketing a photo CD-ROM with thousands of images of food last December. Customers can go to a Web site to order the CD-ROM and its high-resolution (4000 x 3300 pixel, 350 dpi) images of Western, Asian and other foods....

Royal Host steak at 1972 prices.
March 25, 2002... The menu at Royal Host recently included the 88 Steak, a 180g portion of Australian beef selling for just 880 yen. That is the same price the steak sold for in 1972 and is an attempt to bring customers back to beef. The restaurants have the...

Jinro Garden Corporation selling Korean kimchi.
March 25, 2002... The Jinro Garden Corporation forecasts it will garner sales of 45 million yen for kimchi imported from Korea. The operator of the luxury restaurant Jinro Garden sells the product in a 400g retail size (600 yen) and 5kg commercial-use size...

Coffee importer Planet opens cafe named for Pele.
March 25, 2002... Brazilian soccer legend Pele is the inspiration behind a new self-service cafe in the JR Sendai Station Building. The importing company Planet opened the cafe, called Club Pele, and plans ten more outlets by September 2003. Only Brazilian...

Skylark, Seiyo Food Systems among operators creating low-price restaurant chains.
March 25, 2002... Chain operators are spinning out new low-price versions of their restaurants to appeal to cost-conscious consumers. Skylark, which operates restaurants under the Skylark and Gusto brand names, is setting up S Gusto with ticket machines to...

Supply concerns keep Indonesian Mandheling coffee bean prices afloat.
March 25, 2002... Political troubles in Indonesia and strong demand in other countries are keeping the price of Grade 1 Mandheling unroasted coffee beans at high prices. Most Mandheling comes from Ache Province in Sumatra. Unrest in the area has made it...

Consumers continue switch to non-beef protein sources in end-of-year period.
March 25, 2002... Consumer fears about mad-cow disease continued to weigh down sales of beef late in 2001 while giving a strong boost to chicken, pork and other protein sources. Itoyokado reports that sales of beef were only half as strong as the previous...

Consumers choosing duck at restaurants and markets.
March 25, 2002... Customers are consuming more duck recently, and businesses are adjusting their products to fit the need. Hotel restaurants seeking to add a touch of elegance to their menu are emphasizing duck dishes such as the Kamonabe (duck hot pot, 3800...

Skylark operating profits expected to slip 12% for FY2001.
March 25, 2002... Skylark, the operator of the Skylark, Gusto and other restaurant chains, estimates that operating profits for FY2001 will be down 12%. As a group, net profits will come to an estimated 5 billion yen, or 49% lower than year-ago levels. Group...

Denshi Register ER-A131 from Sharp.
March 25, 2002... The Denshi Register ER-A131 from Sharp has a large yellow-green display that reduces reading errors. It is similar in size to earlier models (330mm wide x 363mm deep x 23mm high) but the most commonly used keys are made larger. The...

Shokuhin-yo Digital Shin'onkei food thermometer from Chino.
March 25, 2002... Chino's Shokuhin-yo Digital Shin'onkei food thermometer gives a reading of the internal temperature of foods or liquids in just two seconds. The item is compact at 58mm wide x 29mm deep x 174mm high and sells for 24,800 yen. Chino designed...

Dac imports Pal International's Light Hat for chefs.
March 25, 2002... The UK firm Pal International makes the Light Hat for chefs. Made with nonwoven plant fiber, it is easy on the environment and breathes wells. It is priced at 320 yen per hat and comes 250 to a package. Tokyo-based Dac imports the hats,...

Denshi Range-yo Tokkuri from Gekkeikan.
March 25, 2002... Gekkeikan's Denshi Range-yo Tokkuri lets the user warm up Japanese sake in the microwave. The product is designed to minimize the temperature difference between the top and bottom portions of the sake. With this special design, the...

Mazaran meal packing system from Kawai Shokai.
March 25, 2002... The Mazaran system manufactures packaged meals with soups and sauces isolated to prevent mixing with the food. That opens up new possibilities for takeout meals. Sized at 240mm wide x 210mm deep x 40mm high, the containers can withstand...

Mitsukan Asian Sauce Bibimba imparts Korean flavor.
March 25, 2002... The Asian Sauce series has grown to include Bibimba sauce, using hot gochujang red pepper paste and aromatic sesame oil for authentic Korean flavor. Manufacturer Mitsukan recommends the sauce for seasoning Korean bibinba but also for...

Hanaban lines features yuba soybean casein.
March 25, 2002... Hanaban offers a variety of products featuring yuba, or dried soybean casein. They include Reito Namayuba (frozen raw yuba, 500g, 600 yen), Itayuba (flat pieces, 230g for 800 yen), Jukusei (aged) Yuba (500g, 1300 yen) and Yuba Nyu (yuba...

Ruinart 100% Chardonnay Champagne imported by Takara Shuzo.
March 25, 2002... Ruinart's Blanc de Blanc champagne uses only white Chardonnay grapes. It has the flavor of rich roasted almond and is refreshing and sophisticated. Takara Shuzo imports the champagne from one of France's most venerable champagne makers....

Godo Shusei shochu liquor in special large sizes.
March 25, 2002... Tokudai-kun is the product name for the Korui Shochu clear distilled liquor sold in an extra large PET bottle by Godo Shusei. The 2.7-liter bottle sells for 1580 yen and a 4-liter version is 2300 yen. With an alcohol content of 23 %, it...

Snow Brand Milk Products releases mild fondue.
March 25, 2002... Mild Fondue Camembert-iri is a fondue cheese that comes in a convenient size (450g) for one-time use. Each package serves four to five individuals. This product contains Camembert cheese, giving it a very mild flavor. Snow Brand Milk...

Nippon Lever adds two new varieties to Brooke Bond House Professionals Leaf Tea.
March 25, 2002... The Brooke Bond House Professionals Leaf Tea series has added Caramel and Wild Berry varieties, bringing the line to seven varieties in all. Wild Berry uses sweet and sour flavored tea with strawberry and other berries, while Caramel has a...

Ebara Shokuhin ramen soups.
March 25, 2002... Kaoru Shoyu Ramen Soup and Ajiwai Shio Ramen Soup are new commercial-use products from Ebara Shokuhin. The former uses a bonito and soy sauce stock and has a lightly sweet and mild flavor. The latter borrows from the Okinawa soba noodle...

Ajinomoto Cook Do Curryjan-yo.
March 25, 2002... Food preparers wanting to create Chinese foods tailored to Japanese tastes can do so with Cook Do Curryjan-yo, a new item from Ajinomoto. The sauce combines the flavor of curry with quality chicken and pork soup bases along with black pepper...

Ajinomoto's KK Kenko Canola E provides high vitamin E content.
March 25, 2002... Ajinomoto is marketing a vitamin E-rich canola oil for commercial use. KK Kenko Canola E sells in a 16.5kg can. Ten grams contain the recommended daily amount of vitamin E, which is desirable for its anti-oxidation effect. Ajinomoto has...

Food Cyclater Kyogikai companies create kitchen waste recycling system.
March 25, 2002... Six smaller Tokyo-area companies have jointly created a system to recycle kitchen garbage and make organic fertilizer. Working together under the name Food Cyclater Kyogikai, they will offer a resource recycling business for food...