Comment by Adam Richards

April 2, 2007 @ 6:32 pm

Just for the record, there are already about 100 Yoshinoya locations in the US, mostly in California. Yoshinoya at least seems to be catering to the Japanese population in NYC (the customers were mostly Japanese the 8 or so times I’ve been to the Times Square location), though they have a significant if minor base on the west coast. Gyu-kaku seems like a much less risky venture for a Japanese company since the Benihana chain has already seen some success with a similar experience.

Comment by ken

April 3, 2007 @ 2:49 am

Adam, that’s pretty much why I mentioned that Yoshinoya already has a lot of shops open in California during the program. I think I said ‘dozens,’ but Yoshinoya officially claims ‘over 80.’ I think your figure of around 100 might be more accurate now, given that they might not have updated that website in a bit. The full Yoshinoya US shop location list is here.

I agree about Gyu-kaku, I think they have a pretty strong USP just in the way the customer would experience cooking their own food at the table. But, I have to say that I’ve not been to one of their US locations (only read the menu from outside - much more chicken than in Japan), so I can’t judge on how that experience translates or works.

But you bring up an interesting question: is Yoshinoya “catering to the Japanese population in NYC,” or are they trying to make the product work in terms of the US customer? In terms of product, they have changed the menu to adapt to US tastes (teriyaki chicken and the likes).

Comment by Adamu

April 3, 2007 @ 2:46 pm

Missed that part of the segment

I think Yoshinoya is de facto catering to Japanese because that’s who ends up going there at least at the Times Square locations.

Comment by Ken

April 6, 2007 @ 5:32 pm

Adam, while that might be true of the Times Square location, Yoshinoya has made public its plan to open 1,000 shops across America. Is it sustainable, or even possible, for them to open 1,000 Yoshinoya shops in America and consider Japanese in America to be the target market? That would hardly make sense, and so I think it’s a safe assumption that the ‘Japanese in America’ are not bound to be the target market here, aside from the few shops in very well-traveled tourist locations.

The issue here is much bigger than one location; it’s about their approach to moving into a new market where they will need to formulate a new approach to branding and marketing in order to appeal to the local consumer. If they can’t do that, then the publicly stated goal of opening 1,000 shops across the US just isn’t going to happen.

Pingback by BizCast Japan debut release : Japan Economy News & Blog

December 2, 2007 @ 10:21 pm

[…] The debut release of the BizCast Japan streaming audio/podcast has been released on Trans-Pacific Radio . Albrecht Stahmer and I touch on a range of issues concerning the business scene in Japan…we’d be eternally grateful if you have time to check it out. […]