TOKYO —
Major Japanese restaurant chain operators have been aggressively opening new outlets in other Asian countries such as China, attracting an increasing number of middle-class consumers there with Japanese tastes as well as specially developed local dishes.
The companies have been shifting their focus of new business from Hong Kong and Taiwan to other areas including Southeast Asian countries with the range of cuisine including foods at Japanese-style ‘‘izakaya’’ bars and sushi.
Mos Food Services Inc, a hamburger chain, launched a shop in Amoy, Fujian Province, in February. As hamburgers with a rice bun called ‘‘rice burgers’’ are popular in Asia, local dishes such as the Tom-Yam burger in Thailand have drawn many customers, the company said.
Mos Food also said it intends to increase its number of restaurants overseas to 300 from the current 215 by the end of its next business year.
Watami Co, which launched a restaurant under the Watami brand name in Singapore last year, said it aims to earn half of its total sales overseas in the future.
Satoshi Kurihara, the president of Watami Food Service Singapore Pte Ltd, said, ‘‘The number of people seeking high quality is growing even though the price is a bit higher.’’ Watami, which offers tastes the same as those in Japan, has kept the amount of average customer spending as high as 900 yen during lunchtime.
Yoshinoya Holdings Co said it plans to open some 50 restaurants featuring its ‘‘gyudon’’ beef bowls in China and other countries in the current business year, a similar amount compared with the previous year. The company also said that one-fourth of its restaurants are in foreign countries.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/more-japanese-restaurants-hit-asian-markets
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