Japanese food chain eyes 50 outlets in PH

JAPANESE quick service restaurant Yoshinoya is beefing up its store network by about five times in the next three years.

Yoshinoya Century Pacific Inc. (YCPI), the retail arm of the Po family’s Century Pacific Group, is the exclusive Philippine franchise holder of the Yoshinoya brand.

There are at present seven Yoshinoya stores in the Philippines. The target is to open three or four more stores this year and to have at least 50 stores nationwide by 2016, YCPI president Timothy James G. Yang told reporters on the sidelines of the company’s gyudon eating contest finals over the weekend.

Gyudon is a beef-and-rice dish served in a bowl.

Yoshinoya, which specializes in gyudon, may open another branch in Makati (aside from the Glorietta branch), Quezon City and Alabang, Yang said.

Store expansion is set to accelerate between 2014 and 2016. “Each year, we plan to open more stores than the previous year,” he said.

All of YCPI’s stores are in Metro Manila but the company is considering opening in other urban centers, Yang said.

Most of the future branch openings will be in malls, as with present stores in SM North Edsa, SM Megamall, SM Mall of Asia, Robinson’s Galleria, the newly opened Glorietta branch, SM Manila and SM Pampanga.

With busier work-life schedules and growing incomes amid the growth of the domestic economy, more Filipinos are eating out.

YCPI tries to make its meals more budget-friendly yet appetizing to keep customers loyal and happy, Yang said.

Yoshinoya was born in 1899 in Nihonbashi, a fish market in Tokyo. It is now one of the biggest quick service food chains in Japan and has more than 1,200 outlets worldwide.