Japan Food Service Journal articles from November 2001

Japan Food Service Journal archives from November 2001

Reports Give Mixed Results for Year 2000 Industry Sales.
November 25, 2001... The Food Service Industry Research Center reports that estimated total sales for the dining-out industry slipped 0.7% for calendar 2000. After three consecutive years of decline, sales amounted to slightly less than 27.2 trillion yen. On the...

Franchise Sales Trending Upwards.
November 25, 2001... Estimates from the Japan Franchise Association indicate that FY1999 franchise restaurant sales grew 4.1% to just over 17 trillion yen. The growth occurred at the same time Japan's GDP slipped 0.2%. At the end of the fiscal year, 968...

US Potato Group Promoting IQF Hash Brown Potato.
November 25, 2001... The United States Potato Board is promoting the IQF Hash Brown Potato, a US-grown frozen product for the restaurant industry. Intended for cooking without oil, the Russet Burbank potatoes are peeled, blanched, shredded and individually quick...

Daiei, Marubeni Collaborate to Develop Private Brands.
November 25, 2001... Daiei and Marubeni have teamed up to launch more than a dozen project teams to develop private brands of food products that will sell at supermarkets affiliated with the two companies. They forecast the private brands will garner...

New Shop Combines Pizzeria, Trattoria Aspects.
November 25, 2001... Fresh Food Service, part of the Nissin Flour Milling Group, has opened Pizzeria Trattoria Partenope in Ebisu, Tokyo serving authentic Neapolitan pizza and grilled dishes. The new store follows the success of an earlier pizzeria in Hiroo,...

New Domino's Menu Brings New Selections, Lower Prices.
November 25, 2001... Higa Industries, which runs about 200 Domino's Pizza home-delivery shops nationwide, has updated the delivery service's menu. Five items on the menu are new, including Domino Veggie with such vegetables as onion, tomato and eggplant to...

Lotteria Sets up Seattle-Style Coffee Shop.
November 25, 2001... Fast-food chain Lotteria, a principal shareholder of Java Trading Asia, has opened a Seattle-style coffee shop in Shibuya, Tokyo. The new Java Coffee is the first official shop of that name to open in Japan. Java Trading Japan, the Japanese...

Home Delivery Pizza Orders by Internet.
November 25, 2001... Strawberry Cones, a Sendai-based operator of 182 home-delivery pizza shops and nine restaurants, has begun taking orders for home-delivery pizzas via the Internet. The program is starting first in five shops but is expected to extend to the...

Lotteria Halves Milkshake Prices.
November 25, 2001... Lotteria's 654 shops are now selling milkshakes at half-price. The four flavors, strawberry milk, chocolate milk, vanilla and pineapple, each go for 100 yen. The so-called Lotte Shakes use plant-derived oil to keep calories down and leave a...

Denny's Summer Menu Features Spicy Flavors.
November 25, 2001... Denny's Japan's summer menu this year included a number of spicy selections. Items include Fire Maou Don (rice bowl) (980 yen), Niwatori Pirikara Don (580 yen), Hot Chili Hamburger (880 yen), Wafu (Japanese-style) Hamburger (780 yen), Oroshi...

Papaya Desserts Enjoying Popularity.
November 25, 2001... Skylark has started serving Dole's Philippine-grown papaya as dessert at its restaurants. The dessert menu at 203 Skylark restaurants and 860 Gusto restaurants is quite popular. Purchasing department vegetable team manager Satoshi Ishida...

Suppon Turtle Dishes for Women at Hotel Okura's Chinese Restaurant.
November 25, 2001... Hotel Okura has started serving suppon soft-shelled turtle dishes targeted to women at its Chinese restaurant Chinese Table Star Light. Suppon dishes are considered healthy in Japan, but in China they have long been credited with enhancing...

Japanese Pop Music Cafe in Shibuya.
November 25, 2001... A large-area cafe where customers can enjoy Japanese pop music opened in Shibuya, Tokyo on July 31st. Customers can order CDs along with food selections at their table. The new J-Pop Cafe Shibuya is owned by BAA International and Omnibus...

Tricolore Chef to Teach Restaurateurs about Kitchen Management.
November 25, 2001... Tokyo Gourmet Kikaku, a subsidiary of Tokyo restaurant chain Tricolore, is offering seminars to food and drink establishments, coaching them in restaurant operations. Tricolore chef Norihiro Nakamura leads the seminars, the first of which...

Omuraisu Chain Seeking Franchisees.
November 25, 2001... Omuraisutei, a Fukuoka food service company specializing in omuraisu, or rice in an omelet shell, is looking for franchisees for its chain of restaurants. The company is looking to jump-start its chain from 29 shops currently to 80 by June...

New Key Coffee Shop Uses Slow Brewing Technique for Flavor.
November 25, 2001... Nihonbashi, Tokyo is the home of a new type of coffee shop, which operator Key Coffee calls the EXQ. Hand Drip Cafe. Using a brewing technique intended to bring out the full flavor of coffee, counter staff pour hot water over the grounds a...

New Food Counter Chain Equipped with Kitchens.
November 25, 2001... Nissin Food Products has helped to launch Hyakuwan, a new Tokyo department store food counter focussing on Japanese dishes. Nissin Food Products provides the marketing, while separate companies also from the Nissin Flour Milling Group...

TV-Based Pizza Ordering an Early Test of T-Commerce.
November 25, 2001... On a trial basis, consumers in August were able to order home-delivery pizza through their digital satellite broadcasting service. The project is a collaboration of BS Fuji, the satellite service provider, Higa Industries, operator of...

Virtual Market for Foodstuffs Launched in August.
November 25, 2001... Infomart, which operates an Internet-based food products acquisition service, plans to set up an electronic trading service inside The Business Mall, where presently 112 Japanese commercial organizations gather in cyberspace to trade. The...

Special Importing Contracts Bringing High-Quality Italian Foods to Restaurants.
November 25, 2001... Date Bussan sells imported high-grade olive oil, parmesan cheese and tomatoes to the food service industry. It also offers free-range chicken from a farm in Italy. In all cases, the company has made special contracts with farms to provide...

Shortage of Chicken Predicted.
November 25, 2001... Concerns about unsafe chicken that prompted a temporary ban on imports from China still threaten to affect supplies to the food service industry. As of the end of July, inventories of imported broilers were down 20% from the month before and...

Wholesale Beef Import Prices Spiraling.
November 25, 2001... Wholesale prices of chilled imported beef have been on the rise because of increased demand for certain products, including yakiniku (grilled) beef. While a few retailers are holding off on orders for fear of weak demand, many more are...

Beef Bowl Restaurants Hurt by Climbing Prices.
November 25, 2001... The recent spike in wholesale prices of US beef has hurt Yoshinoya D&C, the restaurant chain specializing in beef and rice bowls. Yoshinoya and its competitors had been battling to drive retail prices lower, but the short plate beef the...

McDonald's IPO a Hit, but Growth Goals in Question.
November 25, 2001... McDonald's Japan enjoyed an overwhelming IPO on July 26, exceeding its initial price of 4300 yen by 400 yen on the first day and temporarily passing 5000 yen the following day. The chain has kept customers coming in with deeply discounted...

New Stores Keep McDonald's Sales Growing in First Half.
November 25, 2001... McDonald's Japan reports that sales in the first half, ending in June, rose 7.7% from a year ago to 184 billion yen. New stores accounted for all of the gain. The number of same-store customer visits increased by 1.6%, but on average...

Government Temporarily Approves Imports of US-Designated Organic Foods.
November 25, 2001... The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has agreed to temporarily recognize US foodstuffs designated as organic in the US as compliant with the Japan Agricultural Standard (JAS) for organic products. The ministry will assume JAS...

MOS Upgrades Burgers with Healthy Appeal, Handmade Look.
November 25, 2001... MOS Food Service has made fundamental changes to its staple product, the hamburger. Beginning July 19, the chain's fast-food stores started serving hamburgers in a kaiser-type bun that now contains wheat germ and bran. The bun therefore...

Organic Box Lunches Available.
November 25, 2001... Nippon Restaurant Enterprise (NRE) has launched sales of O-bento, a selection of box lunch products featuring US-grown foodstuffs that are either entirely organic or grown with less chemical use. The American ingredients are certified...

Pompadour Unit to Sell Bread to Industry.
November 25, 2001... The Yokohama-based Pompadour bakery chain is starting a new bread sales service to the food service industry. Sales begin in mid-September through the just-established BelleCouronne. The new firm will work to assure that the bread stays...

Lunch Salad Service to Add Fresh-Made Sandwiches.
November 25, 2001... Salad Bag, a lunch service that operates out of office buildings in the Tokyo area, now offers the Sandwich Plate, which allows customers to fill their sandwiches with lettuce, tomatoes and other vegetables. By being filled just before...

Denny's Creates Casual Cocktail Liquty.
November 25, 2001... Denny's Japan and Suntory have collaborated on Liquty, a new cocktail available in such varieties as grapefruit, orange, cassis soda and milk tea. Product development manager Ikuyo Mizumura says her team worked more than two years to create...

Automatic Sushi Roll Machine.
November 25, 2001... A new sushi roll machine is available from Audio Technica's special machines department. The machine can form sushi rolls from putting rice on nori (laver) to forming rolls all by itself. The Norimaki Maker ASM850 can make both thin...

Compact Sushi Ball Maker.
November 25, 2001... A table top sushi ball maker, the New Sabu-chan OMS-1800, is available. EX Systems' machine can control the amount of rice and hardness of rice balls. Its compact size makes it easy to have a big work space in front of the machine....

Special Industrial-Use Gas Cooker for Bibinba.
November 25, 2001... Yamaoka Metal has announced a gas cooker, Bibinba Guts, especially for bibinba (a Korean dish consisting of seasoned and cooked vegetables served on top of rice). It has small burners but with a special stand to make it work more...

Spray with Gold and Silver Powder for Food Decoration.
November 25, 2001... Uchu, a spray with gold and silver powder for food decoration, is now available. This product by Tsukioka is a spray can with pure gold and pure silver powders for food decoration. It does not have any impurities so it is safe to use on...

Special Rice from Hachirogata.
November 25, 2001... Musenmai (rice that does not need to be washed before cooking) produced in Hachirogata is on sale from Union Dining. The Ogata village farmer's club produces two varieties: Hachiro Komachi and Nebarimasari (a stickier form). Hachiro Komachi...

New Industry-Use Rice Brand from Akita.
November 25, 2001... Akita Prefecture Keizairen has announced its new rice Menkoina as a successor brand for Akita Komachi. The rice is primarily for business use. This is a cross between Hitomebore and Akita 39. It has appropriate stickiness and refreshing...

Frozen Boneless Fish Slices.
November 25, 2001... Specially chosen processed frozen fish with the bones removed by hand is available from Nichiro. The Honenashi Kirimi Series ("boneless slices series") has six kinds of fish including mackerel, flounder, hairtail and rockfish. The Shokunin...

Cold Curry on Warm Rice.
November 25, 2001... Otsuka Foods has announced the Hiyashi Curry cold retort-packed curry. It is prepared by cooling in a refrigerator then serving on warm rice. It does not need to be warmed before serving, so it can be prepared fast. Hearty beef and light...

Two More Kinds of Spicy Ethnic Curry.
November 25, 2001... Indian style spinach curry and Thai style red pepper curry (both in 200-g packages) have been added to the Ethnic Curry Series by House Foods. The spinach curry is a green curry with cumin and coriander and it is milder. It also uses...

Spices and Foods for Indonesian Cuisine.
November 25, 2001... The Bali Kitchen series, available through Ohara Trading, includes spices and food products that make it easy to cook Indonesian cuisine. Nasi Goreng is Indonesian-style fried rice. The cook first fries the rice and other ingredients, then...

Frozen Mediterranean Cuisine Vegetable Series.
November 25, 2001... Kagome has added Small Potato no Grill (Kawanashi) ("small grilled potatoes without peel") to its industrial-use vegetable product line under the Chichukai Ryori Yasai Series ("Mediterranean cuisine vegetables series"). It uses small Italian...

Real Korean-Style Reimen Noodles.
November 25, 2001... Seoul En Reimen, real Korean-style reimen noodles, are available through Nippon Ham. The cook just adds finely chopped cucumber. This set comes with steamed fresh young chicken with kimchi flavor, kimchi soup with some vinegar for...

Yuba Udon Noodles.
November 25, 2001... Jyukusei Yuba Udon, an udon noodle product with yuba (dried soybean casein) is available through Epicurus. This product uses yuba made from thick soybean milk that is produced from first class soybeans from Saga Prefecture. Two kinds of...

Korean White Sake Makkori.
November 25, 2001... Suehiro Shuzou of Aizu, Fukushima Prefecture has newly produced Makkori (unrefined Korean sake) Shungyoku no Shiro using sweet and malted rice for Japanese sake under instructions of ethnic Korean individuals living in Japan. The carbon...

Number One Clear Distilled Liquor in Korea Comes to Japan.
November 25, 2001... Shinro Chamisle, Korean clear distilled liquor that has a 90% market share in Seoul since it started selling in 1988, is available from Shinro Japan. It uses high quality rice and wheat as its main ingredients and bamboo charcoal to filter...

Patagonia Beer from Chile.
November 25, 2001... Traditionally brewed beer exported from Chile is available from Nestcore Corporation. The beer is produced in compliance with the "Pure Beer Order" proclaimed in 1516 in Germany. It does not contain secondary ingredients such as rice and...

Two Kinds of Italian Liqueur.
November 25, 2001... Amaro Siciliano and Lemonello from Sicilian firm Averna are available through Nichio Shoji. Amaro Siciliano uses gentian roots as a main ingredient and also herbs soaked in liquor. It has a unique aroma and is a "must-have" drink in...

New Mayonnaise Just for Okonomiyaki.
November 25, 2001... Okonomi Foods has created Okonomi Mayonnaise, a new type of mayonnaise specifically developed for topping okonomiyaki, a savory vegetable pancake. The mild taste, slightly tinged with mustard, is a good counterpart to the sauce typically...

Multiwagon for Preparing a Variety of Foods.
November 25, 2001... Chubu Corporation manufactures the Multiwagon, a mobile stand for grilling steak and seafood and deep-frying. Designed to keep smoke and exhaust away from customers, it is a good fit for parties and other events. A breaker protects users...

Electric Table for Cooking Okonomiyaki.
November 25, 2001... TKS presents the Denki Okonomiyaki-ki, a table for preparing okonomiyaki vegetable pancakes with electricity rather than gas. Users need not worry about venting the surrounding air and do not have problems with gas leakage. TKS builds in a...

Extra Hot Sauce for Perking up Other Sauces.
November 25, 2001... Ikari Sauce offers Gekikara! Tamari Sauce, the name of which implies the particularly hot nature of the sauce. Users put just a small amount into okonomiyaki (vegetable pancake) or yakisoba (grilled noodle) sauce to create a shaper flavor....

Wool Treated to Eliminate Odors More Effectively.
November 25, 2001... Newcome has created a wool cloth that breaks down sources of unpleasant odors up to 10 times as effectively as untreated wool. Known as Kaishu Wool, the product is created with threads treated to break down the bad-smelling substances...

Leben Creates Food Service Tongs for Small Hands.
November 25, 2001... Leben has launched sales of its Universal Tong Series. Products include the Universal Tong Personal LTD-SO1 (1200 yen) for grasping items such as salad from a vertical angle and hamburgers, fries or bread from the side. It consists of a...

Hair and Body Dryer for Industrial Use.
November 25, 2001... Etani Sangyo manufactures the Rez Hair Body Dryer, a wall-mounted unit for industrial use. Its model M-740 V/S can be easily adjusted for people of different heights. The M-740 is another product available. Both come with an automatic...

Ozone Misting System Removes Stubborn Odors.
November 25, 2001... Ohnit manufactures the Cabin Refresher, a system for cutting odors and germs with the power of ozone. Set into a hotel room, for example, it releases a mist of ozone at the rate of 500 mg per hour that can break down the smell of tobacco and...

Film Uses Special Properties to Keep Food Fresh.
November 25, 2001... Kuraray Living is providing samples of Chefkin Kijime Roll, a sheet used to protect food freshness in industrial applications. Chefkin is a specially treated film that, unlike conventional wraps, uses osmotic pressure and the filter action...

Resource-Saving Film Wrap Iina.
November 25, 2001... Tokyo Queen sells a resource-conserving plastic wrap known as Iina. The roll of film has no cardboard core and sells in a thin paper wrapper. Users can purchase a plastic container with a semi-permanent blade and refill it with rolls as...

Unit Creates Scene-Setting Clouds for Celebrations.
November 25, 2001... Tokai Effect, part of the Effect Group, sells Mini Moku, a unit that creates a festive white cloud to set the mood at parties. The smoke that makes up the small cloud is emitted all at once when a ribbon is cut, creating a startling...

Ozone System for Kitchen Sanitation.
November 25, 2001... Time Honpo offers the Yard Refresher, an ozone system well suited to keeping hotel and restaurant kitchens sanitary and odor-free. Ozone kills germs, helps food stay fresh and repels cockroaches. Time Honpo's system converts ordinary oxygen...

Dough Conditioner/Oven Combination an Easy Investment for Small Shops.
November 25, 2001... Matsushita Refrigeration has presented its Pan Shokunin bakery system. The light, small-dimension unit is a combination dough conditioner and oven, an industry first. It can defrost frozen dough and help it to rise, or just let regular...

Ajinomoto Soup Base Gives Authentic Flavor from Bones.
November 25, 2001... Ajinomoto offers Hondakigara Soup, a new product for food service use that captures the flavor of chicken and pork from the Tohoku region. Included is a variety using chicken bones and another using both chicken and pork bones. The product...

New Decorative Holder for Fruit and Flowers.
November 25, 2001... Cycollections offers its Orchid Vase for use during parties and similar events. The silver-coated copper vase has a refined look and is made completely by hand. The company recommends it for holding fruit or flowers. It is readily...

Sanyo's Showcase Has Separate Sections, Offers Temperature Flexibility.
November 25, 2001... Sanyo Electric has designed the Betsuoki-gata ("separate-placement") Pass-Through Hot and Cold Showcase for use in fast-food and convenience stores. Foods such as boxed lunches, sandwiches and rice balls can be kept in the same unit as a...

New Wall Lining Gives Spaces the Look and Feel of Classy Materials.
November 25, 2001... Marushika Yogyo sells Oldstone and Beams, a new type of furnishing material for shop interiors. The product comes in a vast array of designs that strongly resemble brick, natural stone, terra cotta tile and more, imparting the beauty of...

Asahi Denka Kogyo Creates Substitute Ingredient for Light, Fluffy Cream.
November 25, 2001... Asahi Denka Kogyo has developed a substitute ingredient for application in starch-based processed foods, such as custard creams and flour pastes, that facilitates production of fluffy, nonsticky cream. The company employed a new processing...

AGF Succeeds in Extracting Oligosaccharide from Coffee Grounds.
November 25, 2001... Ajinomoto General Foods has discovered a way to refine more than 90% pure mannan oligosaccharide from used coffee grounds. This oligosaccharide has been found to increase beneficial bacteria, such as lactobacillus bifidus, in the intestines....

Hokuren Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives Develops Better Potato for Chips.
November 25, 2001... The Hokuren Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives has developed a new variety of potato - P982 - or potato chips. P982 is a cross between "white fryer" and "sayaka" potatoes. Rounder than regular chip-oriented potatoes - the...

Rice Flour from Saito Seifun Holds Promise of New Performance Foods.
November 25, 2001... Inaho no Kaori, a rice flour developed by Saito Seifun, has been applied to a variety of products, from noodles and batter mixes to Japanese treats, with positive results. The company followed this success with a sister product - Inaho no...

Ishiyama Miso Markets Rice Grown with Black Vinegar.
November 25, 2001... Taruichi Kurozumai, from Ishiyama Miso, is a type of rice grown with brown rice-based black vinegar, which favorably reduces the amount of pesticide and chemical fertilizers conventionally used to grow rice. A 5kg bag costs \2,750. The...

Infrared Rays Boil Eggs Without Water.
November 25, 2001... Sapporo-based Yoyu Giken claims many advantages for the Sun Boil system for boiling eggs without water. Sun Boil processes up to 250 eggs at a time using far-infrared radiation. The process takes about 90 minutes at temperatures of 75-85...

Toyo Seimaiki Spins out Line for Rice Processors.
November 25, 2001... Toyo Seimaiki of Wakayama produces a number of convenient machines specifically designed for rice processing plants. A recent addition to its lineup is the Insect Separator, which forces insects to give up their grip on rice grains and also...