Japan's "Curry House CoCo Ibanya", which has 1,444 branches at home and abroad (until the end of June, the same below), announced in July this year that it would open a branch in India. CoCo Ibanya has established a joint venture with Mitsui & Co., Ltd.'s overseas company, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Asia Oceania. Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is responsible for local management and store leasing, while Ibanya is responsible for store operations.
In 1994, Ibanya opened its first overseas store in Hawaii. In 2004, Ge Yuanshou (current president) served as the head of overseas business and entered Shanghai, China for the first time. At present, the number of stores in China has reached 48. In addition, in August and December 2018, Yabanya opened its first branches in Vietnam and the United Kingdom respectively. Up to now, Ibanya has a total of 180 overseas stores in 12 countries and regions around the world.
This time, Ibanya plans to open its first store in India, the birthplace of curry, in 2020. The suburbs of the capital Delhi are candidates for opening stores, and it is planned to open 10 directly-operated stores within five years. And then further expand the number of stores in the form of chain store .
So curious, can COCOICHI, a curry from Japan, be accepted by India, the country of origin of curry? Let's listen to President Kuzuhara's idea together. The opportunity for
to open a store in India came from the proposal by Mitsui & Co.'s Indian employees.
--When did you start thinking about opening a store in India?
About 10 years ago, the former president Toshiya Hamashima (current president) once said, "Since we sell curry rice, we want to open a shop in India, the holy land of curry in the future". At the time, I was the head of the overseas business unit, and to realize this idea, I started conducting market observations in India seven or eight years ago.
8 years ago, India's roads and other public infrastructure were not perfect, and there were no shopping malls as candidates for opening stores, and India did not yet have the conditions to open foreign restaurants.However, since three years ago, India's public infrastructure has been basically completed, and the number of candidates for opening stores is also increasing, mainly in the suburbs of Delhi.
At the same time, India has gradually opened some foreign restaurants such as , Italian , and American cuisine. The food court in the shopping center is full of fashionable shops. During our search for a partner, Mitsui & Co., which has been doing business in the region for a long time, suggested to us to open a store in India.
--Although Mitsui & Co. made a proposal to open a store, the decision to enter the "birthplace of curry" was also decisive!
In the past, Indian customers have also dined at CoCo Ibanya restaurants in Japan and abroad, and they have also given some comments.
I heard that this proposal was put forward by an Indian employee of Mitsui & Co., "I want to start the CoCo Ibanya business in India". Of course, our company and Mitsui & Co. entered India after careful discussion.
-- Having said that, is Japanese curry really acceptable to Indians?
In India, a country with a large population, about 1.3 billion people eat various kinds of "curry" every day. Even if it is 1 meal a month or 1 meal every 2 months, this frequency has great potential. 1% of 1.3 billion people is a huge number. India is indeed an attractive market.
KUZUHARA MAMORU, born in 1967. After graduating from culinary school, he worked in a hotel and joined the company in 1992. In 2004, when I started the China business, I took the initiative to request to be transferred from the domestic business and start the overseas business. Since March 2019, he has been the current president since he assumed the position of executive and vice president. When
opened a store in , Thailand, and , someone once said, "Thailand has Thai curry. Why do Japanese curry shops set up shop in Thailand?".At that time, there were not as many Japanese companies settling in Thailand as now, so there was such a voice at first, "I guess it won't be successful, right?".
However, after the store opened in Thailand, many Thai customers came to dine in the store. Now the number of stores in Thailand has increased to nearly 30. This is what customers say about our shop, "Thailand has Thai curry, and the curry here is delicious." It should be the same in India. For Indians, dining in our restaurant is also a new choice for them.
The store in India will also continue the unique "fun of choice" of CoCo Ibanya
--Is it just like bringing the curry of Japan CoCo Ibanya directly to India?
of course. However, the tonkatsu curry sauce offered by Japanese stores contains pork and cannot be exported overseas due to a history of foot-and-mouth disease. So in India we will be offering "vegetarian curries" with no added animal ingredients.
In India, we mainly eat "long grain" basmati rice, which is not suitable for Japanese curry sauces, so we buy "short grain" Japanese rice, and of course also provide Japanese ordinary curry rice in India. In addition, in India, we also offer to choose side dishes, choose the curry spiciness and the amount of rice, which are the unique "choice fun" of CoCo Ibanya.
--does naan also be served?
Japan also has a menu of naan. It can also be purchased locally, so naan is also our reserved menu.
--Although India's economy is developing rapidly, its income level is still very low compared to Japan. Will pricing be difficult?
Although we want to lower the price as much as possible, the initial unit price should be around 1000 yen (equivalent to RMB 66) according to the exchange rate. Compared with Japan's income level, the current price is quite high, but the local income level will also increase in the near future.When
html set up shop in China 015 years ago (the first real overseas foray), curry was priced at around 30 yuan. It is equivalent to about 5,000 yen in Japan today. The price is too expensive and many people can't eat it.After 15 years, China's income level has improved a lot. At the same time, the price of curry has also risen, certainly not beyond the income level. In 10 years, India will be like China!
--It is difficult for Japanese restaurants to expand their business in China, and there are also chain stores that have withdrawn from the Chinese market. What is the reason for the increase in the number of CoCo stores in China?
What our shop offers is curry which is very good. When the No. 1 store was opened, many Chinese people didn't know about curry. At that time, there were no competing chains, and gradually the impression of "Japanese curry = CoCo Ibanya" was deeply rooted in the hearts of Chinese people.
Design attractive shops and menus according to the needs of female customers
In the course of our operation, we found that female customers have the tendency of "there is a special restaurant there, let's go and have a look!". Therefore, we made the No. 2 store, which opened 9 months after the No. 1 store opened, into a store that can attract female customers. The second store was designed by a Japanese designer as a "cafe western restaurant that couples can use on a date". The
menu has also been carefully designed. The visual effect of the schnitzel curry is dull, so we make the frittata curry, put the yellow part in the middle, and the curry becomes bright in color. There are many women who like white sauce, chicken , and mushrooms, so we have created menus such as mushroom cream sauce and chicken cream sauce. After
made such a change, the number of customers who came to the store from the day the store opened was staggering. The 3rd store after that also adopted the same method, which led to an increase in the number of customers of the 1st store.
-- Catching female guests is the key
At the time, Christmas and Valentine's Day sales set new records. This is impossible in Japan. Five years after entering the Chinese market, nearly 70% of female customers are. Female customers bring male customers to the store. After a male customer has eaten curry, he will bring his male friend to the store next time.
--Is this method also applicable in other countries?
After we built the overseas store model in China, we have also used this model in Taiwan, , Korea, , Thailand and other countries. We will use the experience of 180 overseas stores to consider store designs and menus that are suitable for India. The design of the first store in India has been handed over to Japanese designers.
There is still room for opening stores in Japan.
--now there are 1264 stores in Japan and 180 stores overseas. Will overseas stores increase to the same number as in Japan in the future?
I don't know if I can reach this number during my tenure as president, but I want to increase the number of overseas stores in the future, even more than in Japan. This shouldn't be difficult to achieve.
The head office of Ibanya is located in a residential area in Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture. You can feel the Aichi corporate culture of "not spending money at the head office".
--Is there less and less room for opening stores in Japan?
For example, comparing the data of Aichi Prefecture (166 stores, the end of February) and Tokyo (179 stores, the end of February), the number of stores has basically remained unchanged. However, Tokyo's population and market potential still have room to open stores. However, now is not the era of aggressiveness after setting the number of stores in the past with "open 300 stores!" and "target 1,000 stores". If there is a good corner according to the market demand, we will open a store. In addition, we are also considering new businesses for women.
--Has the company considered attracting inbound foreigners tourists?
Whether foreign customers can easily enter the store's language is a big problem. Now that the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan is increasing, we are considering introducing a ticket vending machine or terminal system in the store where you can speak as little as possible and order various menus with confidence.
--Recently you have increased prices in stages. Will there be further price increases in the future?
don't want to increase the price if possible. However, raw material prices have been rising. Labor costs and logistics costs for factories and suppliers that process raw materials are also rising. It's impossible only if we don't raise prices.
If we still can't digest the rising cost by changing the operation, we will make the customers bear this part of the cost. However, we have absolutely no idea of taking the opportunity to raise prices.
Even if the price increases, fans still support the store
--Other restaurant chains will reduce the number of customers by increasing the price, but the increase in the price of CoCo Ibanya can maintain the number of customers.
It is not acceptable to make customers feel that "although the price has risen a little, the store and the staff provide warm service, and it is great to be able to eat comfortably in the store!" We have been emphasizing warm hospitality and attentive service with chain store managers and employees. The biggest reason is that
still has many fans. The fans really support our store very much. We provide customers with their own custom-made curry, and when customers think "I want to eat curry today", they will think of CoCo Ibanya.
--In March of this year, founder Tokuji Soji, his wife Naomi Soji, and former president Hamashima took over as the 4th president. Labor costs and raw materials have continued to rise, and the company's operating profit has grown slowly in recent years.
The company had just gone public when the former president, Hamashima, took over the baton from the Soji and his wife. Companies have many organizational issues to improve.After that, the company was listed on the First Division of the Topix. The former president, Hamashima, spent 17 years growing the company and repaying the company's loan, so that the company's development was on the right track.
As the new president, I have experienced many things overseas, and I will run the company with a new feeling in the future. Times are evolving. It is my job to challenge new things while foreseeing the future, and to constantly change the current "CoCo Ibanya" according to the development of the times.
