Together with People and Society
Improving Customer Experience Value through DX and Other Initiatives
We want to enrich our customers’ lives and even their futures by making everyday meals more delicious. With this in mind, we are not only focusing on the quality of our products, but also on how to make our customers happy and improving the experience value. Furthermore, we are expanding these efforts not only domestically but also around the world through opening stores overseas.
Aiming to Improve the Experience of Our Customers
Our group wants to provide not only delicious food, but also a richer time and life through food. We continue to work on improving the value of our customers’ experience, such as by introducing a system that utilizes digitalization to complete all processes from restaurant reservations to seating and payment without waiting. We have also begun offering a service that digitally recreates the conveyor belt sushi experience while being mindful of food waste.
DX Makes Everything from Reservations to Checkout Even Smoother
Sushiro stores have implemented a variety of digital technologies, from reservations made via an app, to information and ticket issuing machines and automated information systems when entering the store, touch panels for ordering after being seated, self-checkouts, and automated souvenir lockers for takeout. The use of digital transformation not only enables efficient store operations, but also improves the customer experience by shortening waiting times and providing a smooth ordering experience.
New Model for Kaiten Sushi
Starting in September 2023, we will be trialing the “Digital Sushiro Vision,” commonly known as Digiro, which combines a large digital vision with a conveyor belt, at three stores in Japan. Digiro is a system in which sushi flows along a virtual conveyor belt on a digital vision, allowing customers to enjoy an unprecedented store experience, including menu searches and games. In addition to functioning as a touch panel for searching the menu and ordering, it also has functions to liven up your meal, such as a system that displays information about sushi specialties and quizzes.
Expanding Japanese Kaiten Sushi Culture around the Globe
Since opening its first store in Korea in 2011, Sushiro has been actively opening stores overseas, mainly in Asia, including Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, and mainland China. What is important in opening stores overseas is to provide the original deliciousness of Japanese sushi, without localizing it to suit the local taste. We aim to deliver Japanese food culture globally through sushi, and provide a rich experience to customers all over the world.
Bringing the Deliciousness of Sushi to Indonesia and America
Sushiro has 12 overseas stores in 2018, but by December 2022, it has reached 100 stores and is promoting global expansion. In particular, from 2021, we have accelerated the opening of stores in mainland China, expanding to 34 stores as of the end of September 2023. Overseas business is important for the growth of our group, and we aim to increase the ratio of overseas sales to 40% by 2026, with an eye on responding to Muslim-friendly needs and opening stores in the United States. In order to maintain and improve quality, we are focusing on human resource development and recruitment, while also promoting labor-saving at overseas stores, introducing Japanese know-how on sales promotion, and promoting efficient operation. We will continue to make focused growth investments and spread the deliciousness of sushi to the world as a global brand originating from Japan.
Revitalizing Local Industries and Creating Jobs
We believe that creating jobs in the areas where we conduct business overseas is an effort that leads to contributions to local communities. Our group has foreign employees in various positions not only in Japan but also overseas. They are active in various roles, such as using their native language to support the operation of overseas stores.
Contribution to Society and Communities
With the aim of creating a rich society for the next generation, we are promoting educational support activities such as food education initiatives and scholarship programs.We also make an effort to contribute to the local community through sports support activities for people with disabilities and tasting events at our stores.
Food Education Activities That 'Connect' Producers and Customers.
Sushiro has been running the “Go! Go! Kids Project” as an initiative to promote food education. As part of this initiative, we are conducting “Sushi Education,” which teaches the importance of “food” through rice planting and harvesting experiences and tours of the farming facilities where yellowtail and hamachi are grown. The rice planting and harvesting experience tour has been held since 2015, and participants can experience actual farming work in the rice fields where “Sushiro’s exclusive rice” is grown. Many children see rice ears before they become white rice and the threshing process for the first time, and the tour is crowded with many families every year, and it is also an opportunity to foster a sense of gratitude towards producers. At the farming facility, children can experience the process of growing, landing, and processing the yellowtail that will become sushi toppings, which allows them to realize the importance of marine marine resources. In 2021, we held our first online class, “Kids Online Sushiro’s Secrets of Hamachi,” where we learned about the ecology of the yellowtail that Sushiro serves and the ingenuity of its feed.
TOPICS
Grant-type Scholarship System
The “FOOD & LIFE COMPANIES Scholarship Program” was launched in October 2021. We provide financial support in the form of grant-type scholarships that do not need to be repaid so that students do not have to give up on going to university or advancing to the next grade for financial reasons.
Sushiro Kids’ Full-fill Project
In order to realize its corporate philosophy of spreading the joy of delicious food, the company is distributing digital tickets that can be used at Sushiro to single parents and other families with children through an NPO, in order to help children learn more about delicious sushi.
Support Activities for People with Disabilities
With the aim of realizing a society of inclusion, we continue to support the NPO Japan Baseball Federation for the Disabled. As part of our efforts to create stores that are popular with the local community, when Sushiro opens a new store, we hold a tasting event inviting people from nearby facilities for the disabled.
Educational Support Activities
Under the theme of SDGs, we work with primary industry businesses, local communities, and companies to create learning opportunities for children and cooperate with school classes.
Food Safety and Security
In order to allow our customers to enjoy a fulfilling meal, it is essential that the processes related to food ingredient management and cooking are safe and secure. In addition to managing the hygiene of people, places, tools, ingredients, etc., we implement measures to prevent food poisoning by properly understanding possible risks at every stage from the raw materials to serving them to customers.
Our Approach to Food Safety and Security
To realize our vision of “Change the taste of everyday life. Spread joy to the world,” we have set the following guidelines: “Single-minded sincerity. Face people’s health, safety, and security head-on. And the precious global environment.” Based on these guidelines, we promise to continue to face our customers’ safety, security, and the global environment throughout the entire supply chain, from raw materials to delivering products to customers.
Quality Assurance System Based on HACCP Principles
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is a basic concept that involves analyzing where and what risks exist from the time raw materials are used until the product is delivered to the customer, planning how and at what stage to manage and avoid risks, continuously checking and visualizing the implementation status, and taking action to improve the situation if any problems are found and reviewing the plan as necessary. We will manage the entire supply chain based on this concept.
Supplier Quality and Hygiene Management
Our Group purchases products from approximately 170 companies (as of the end of September 2023). When starting new transactions, we position food safety as a particularly important issue. We check whether the supplier’s processing plant has GFSI certification, an international standard for food safety management, and if it has not, our specialized department visits the processing plant directly to check the management situation in detail in accordance with our Group’s requirements and confirms that it meets the passing standards before starting transactions. Even after starting transactions, we continue to ensure safety and security by conducting inspections and visits to processing plants on an irregular basis.
Quality and Hygiene Management in Stores
In addition to complying with food safety laws and regulations in the countries and regions in which we operate, our stores also conduct hygiene management based on the HACCP approach, an international hygiene management method. As our group’s main menu item is sushi and we handle a lot of raw food, hygiene management of employees engaged in cooking is particularly important. At Sushiro, our core business, we check the health and appearance of each employee before they start work. We have also introduced a “third-party hand washing confirmation” system to ensure that all employees wash their hands correctly at important times, such as when entering the store or after using the toilet. To check whether this system is functioning properly and whether all employees wash their hands correctly, cameras are installed at the hand washing sinks and monitoring is carried out at the head office. We have formulated a HACCP hygiene management plan to make hygiene management efforts visible, and we are making them known to employees through educational activities. In addition, hygiene inspections are conducted twice a year by an external hygiene inspection agency at all stores to evaluate whether management is being carried out in accordance with the hygiene management plan. For stores with low ratings, our specialized department visits the store to check for improvements and provide guidance, so that all stores can maintain a certain level of safety.
Allergen and Origin Information
In order to accommodate a wide variety of customers, we provide updated allergen information for our main menu and promotional items. We also disclose the origin of the ingredients in each product in accordance with the “Guidelines for Country of Origin Labeling in Restaurants” published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. We only use ingredients imported from overseas that meet domestic standards.
*Other allergens not originally included in the menu may unintentionally become attached or mixed in during production at the factory or during cooking in the store.
*Desserts, drinks, and toppings (sauces, seasonings, etc.) are not subject to labeling.
*Due to weather conditions or procurement circumstances, we may source from other countries.
Enhance Human Capital Management
The word “COMPANIES” in our company name “FOOD & LIFE COMPANIES” means colleagues who work together to realize our dreams. We believe that each employee with a diverse background can create new value by working in an organization in their own way, so we have established a DE&I Promotion Committee and various career development support systems.
F&LC Human Rights Policies
The F&LC Group seeks to achieve a sustainable society and corporate growth. We believe that solving social issues through business operations based on our Vision, “Discovering new tastiness, sharing moments of joy,” should lead to sustainable growth.
The F&LC Group established its F&LC Human Rights Policies (hereinafter, the “Policies”) in consideration of its responsibility to respect human rights in its business activities. Important issues for the F&LC Group include issues related to people as well as the sustainability of fishery resources and agricultural products. In addition to promoting the empowerment of human resources and DE&I initiatives, we will stay committed to respecting the human rights of the many different stakeholders including our employees, customers, local communities, suppliers and business partners.
Promoting Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DE&I)
FOOD & LIFE COMPANIES aims to realize its corporate philosophy, VISION: “Change the taste of everyday life. Spread joy to the world.” One of the driving forces behind this is the promotion of diversity equity and inclusion (DE&I). We promote DE&I by setting “Diversity is based on individuality. To infinitely increase the group’s strength. Let’s accept each other’s individuality. Let’s demonstrate our diverse talents.” as one of our PRINCIPLES (action guidelines).