[Faculty of Business Administration] On Tuesday, October 15th, we had a lecture on Service Management by Michishita, CSO of Eternal Hospitality Group, which operates Torikizoku and other restaurants.

Assistant Professor Mizuyo Tonosaki of Faculty of Business Administration teaches "Service Management" by inviting guest speakers from the business world involved in the restaurant and hotel management industries to deepen understanding by listening to specific examples and the voices of those involved. In the first lecture, Satoshi Michishita, CSO and director of Eternal Hospitality Group Co., Ltd., which operates the izakaya chain Torikizoku, spoke about the group's past and future developments.
Torikizoku, the core of the group, opened its first store in Higashi-Osaka about 40 years ago under the current president, Okura. Since then, the company has made various efforts to make yakitori restaurants, which have an image of being for "old men," more attractive to women and young people by introducing beautiful interiors and uniform prices for all items, and has now grown to a scale of over 1,000 stores, including Yakitori Daikichi, which is also a core member of the group. In the restaurant industry, where it is said that 70% of businesses go out of business within three years and 80% within five years, the group has been able to continue expanding its business for 40 years because the philosophy that is the source of its growth, "Let's brighten the world with yakitori restaurants," has permeated the minds of President Okura and all employees.
Looking at the group's growth process, it can be divided into the founding period (1985-1996), growth period (1997-2009), expansion period (2010-2016), and regrowth period (2017-). In the founding period, the first store had a hard time, but Torikizoku built a foundation by narrowing down the menu to focus on yakitori and introducing Torikizoku's characteristic "one size fits all price" policy. In the growth period, the number of stores increased by expanding the store area, especially by opening stores in skyscrapers (where rent is relatively cheap). In the expansion period, the number of stores increased nationwide. In the regrowth period, although the company was affected by the deficit caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it overcame the deficit caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by expanding its scale through traditional store openings and introducing a marketing and profit management system, and began expanding globally, opening stores in the United States, Taiwan, and Korea. In recent years, there have been many specialized izakaya restaurants, and Torikizoku has been a pioneer in this field, and its yellow sign has become a brand. Going forward, the company has set a vision of a "Global YAKITORI Family" and aims to have 2,000 stores worldwide by 2030.
After the lecture, students who had attended asked questions, and in response to "Are you experiencing difficulties with ingredients and hygiene management?", the answers were "The quality control department investigates these on a daily basis." In response to "Are you experiencing difficulties with ingredients when expanding overseas?", the answers were "There are countries where we have to use less salt than in Japan, but the sauce taste is the same." In response to "How has avian influenza affected our ingredient procurement?", the answers were "We do not have a major impact because we distribute our procurement locations, chickens have a short growth period, and the government's avian influenza countermeasures are functioning well."
At the end of the class, the students will be asked to present "new idea proposals" in groups. I am looking forward to seeing how the students will use today's lecture.

(Source: School Public Relations)