Yoshinoya to Add 100 Restaurants

Yoshinoya to Add 100 Restaurants as Consumers Seek Budget Meals

By Maki Shiraki and Kazue Somiya
Jan. 15 (www.Bloomberg.com)

Yoshinoya Holdings Co., Japan’s largest operator of beef-bowl restaurants, plans to add a record 100 outlets in its home market next fiscal year as demand for budget meals increases from recession-hit consumers.

The Tokyo-based company aims to increase restaurants in Japan to at least 1,194 by February 2010 and accelerate an expansion in China, adding 60 outlets to the 185 already open there, President Shuji Abe said.

“The market is harsh but conditions for investing and opening new stores are positive,” Abe said in an interview broadcast today on Bloomberg Television.

The chain is increasing sales as Japanese consumers, facing bleaker job prospects and stagnating wages, seek budget dining options. The company, which prices a regular serving of its signature beef-on-rice dish at 380 yen ($4.25), yesterday posted its third straight gain in Japanese sales.
Meanwhile, restaurants classified as “fine dining” by the Japan Foodservice Association have posted eight months of declining same-store sales.

Yoshinoya, which has outlets in the U.S., Singapore, the Philippines and Australia, plans to open its first Russian restaurant next fiscal year, Abe said. The company opened its first restaurant in Tokyo in 1899 and now has a total of 1,444 Yoshinoya outlets.

The company, which last year bought a controlling stake in Japanese steakhouse chain Don Co., will consider further acquisitions, he said.

Yoshinoya’s Japan same-store sales gained 4.2 percent in December, following a 4.8 percent gain in November.