Activities for the Future

Basic Policy

The Yoshinoya Holdings Group provides services that develop and pass on Japan's unique food and drink culture and operates businesses that anticipate the long-term future. The Group is also working to promote the use of digital technologies to enhance operational efficiency, while responding to changes in the social and market environments, improving usability, and satisfying user needs. Yoshinoya is promoting the development of new business and store formats to satisfy emerging dining needs. By making a difference through bold innovation, the Group will continue to envision and realize the future.

Examples of Activities

Deployment of Cooking & Comfort Outlets That Also Reduces Operational Burden

Since 2016, Yoshinoya has been deploying Cooking & Comfort (C&C) outlets that offer a service style focused on providing freshly prepared products in a comfortable dining space. At a C&C outlet, the customer first places their order at the register. Then, after having completed payment, the customer picks up the food themselves and brings it to their seat. The C&C outlet features an open, spacious seating area, allowing customers to relax and enjoy their meals. Moreover, the change in layout from the conventional outlet has resulted in improved employee flow and fewer steps being required. As employees do not have to walk as many steps, it takes only a little extra effort to offer products only available when dining out.

Deployment of Takeout/Delivery Specialty Stores That Benefits Both Customers and Employees

Since 2022, Yoshinoya has been operating takeout/delivery specialty stores in response to demand for takeout. These outlets have tablets for pre-payment and ordering to reduce waiting times, and because the staff can concentrate on preparing the food, they are able to serve freshly cooked products promptly. Since seats are not required and the cost of opening a new store is half that of a standard outlet, we will use this as the axis for new outlet openings and aim for quantitative growth by opening new outlets in uncharted areas.

Development of New Business Formats to Meet Diversifying Customer Needs

In December 2023, Yoshinoya began operating Karubi no Toriko, a new restaurant format that specializes in karubi (beef short ribs) bowls and sundubu soup, in Satte, Saitama Prefecture. It is now expanding the number of outlets in this format. In December 2024, it opened a curry restaurant, Mou Toriko, in Tokyo's Taito ward, and a deep-fried foods outlet, Deikara, in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. We are applying the knowledge and unique foundations cultivated at Yoshinoya in the development of these new business formats, all of which make use of certain of Yoshinoya's ingredients and devise unique cooking techniques for each individual format.

Proposing Ostrich as an Option for the Wellness of Both People and the Planet

Since 2017, in addition to promoting research of alternative meats in anticipation of the future, Speedia, Co., Ltd. has continued to conduct research into ostriches. In the course of its ostrich research, it has discovered new functions in the beauty and health domains and realized that ostriches can help to enrich people's lives. Speedia is pursuing this research from the perspective of making effective use of not only their meat and oil, but all the resources that ostriches can provide, including their feathers and bones. It is also cooperating with various researchers. Speedia is currently engaged in the farming and research of ostriches, as well as the development and sale of products. Certain Yoshinoya outlets serve “Ostrich Rice Bowl," and Yoshinoya's official online shop sells Japan-grown roasted ostrich meat, while all products in the SPEEDIA skincare brand are available on the Yoshinoya official online shop and other channels.

Roll-out of Services That Bring New Life to Communities' Foodservice Outlets

Since 2020, ShareRestaurant Inc. has been providing a “Share Restaurant" service, which matches people who want to sublet out their unused space with people who want to rent that space. In 2024, it also launched a “Successor Restaurant" service, which matches people who want to pass their business onto someone with people who want to take over that business. In this way, it is endeavoring to bring new life to foodservice outlets, which are an asset to their communities, and, furthermore, to revitalize the foodservice industry.

Use of Digital Technologies to Strengthen Human Capital

In FY2021, Yoshinoya Holdings, Yoshinoya, and Hanamaru introduced “Kaonavi," a talent management system that uses facial photographs to identify individual employees. This system is used for the centralized management of human resources information. With the addition of employee data from With Link and StartingOver in FY2022, the system's coverage was extended to all Group companies in Japan. Its functions improve the efficiency of personnel operations and enable consistency of personnel evaluation and development, thus supporting strategic HR management, including optimal employee placements and promotions. The Group's Human Resources Council, whose role is to discover and develop the next management team, also uses Kaonavi to build a pool of management candidates based on information that has been sorted by attributes such as rank, gender, and age.

Building the User Experience with Smartphone Apps

Digitalization is closely related to the value provided to customers. As such, it is the most critical initiative in our growth strategy and requires swift responses to changes in user needs. As part of this initiative, the Group is focusing its efforts on building the user experience (UX) with the Yoshinoya and Hanamaru smartphone apps, to promote patronage of outlets. Through digitalization initiatives such as storing prepaid cards on the apps, issuing coupons, and offering the convenience of takeout orders, we intend to keep expanding the apps' functions, positioning them as an approach that will offer wider choices in customers' consumption behavior.

Introduction of Online Interviews to Boost Part-time Employment Efficiency

In traditional part-time hiring, information on applicants is transmitted to the head office through a job information website. It is then passed to each outlet, where the store manager schedules an appointment with the applicant and conducts an in-person interview at the outlet. The biggest issue in this process is contacting applicants and scheduling appointments. In many cases, the time that the applicant is available for contact does not coincide with that of the manager. Even when contact is finally established, it can be difficult to schedule the interview. The process through to the interview itself often does not proceed smoothly. In addition to serving as an obstacle to smooth store operations, it constitutes a major opportunity loss for the company as a whole. Looking at the restaurant industry overall, from data indicating that there has been an exodus of workers to other industries in recent years, we believe that the whole industry has the same issue. Given these circumstances, we began to develop and put into practice a system in which interviewers perform interviews online on behalf of store managers. In concrete terms, the process still begins at a job interview website, but a URL for the application only is incorporated in the site, and once the applicant registers as a friend on the LINE app, they are immediately directed to a screen where they can input their preferred online interview schedule and related information. Based on the dates input on the app, the schedule is finalized, and the interviewer leads the online interview.