It’s official – the lowly beef bowl has won out over the hamburger for the hearts (and yen) of Japan’s fast food fans.
Based on annual revenue, Zensho Co., which operates the Sukiya chain of beef bowl restaurants, pulled ahead of McDonald’s in the latest fiscal year to claim the crown as the biggest Japanese fast food chain. That marked a first for a purveyor of the beef bowl, or gyudon, a contender for title of Japan’s unofficial national dish. For the uninitiated, it features paper-thin strips of the cheapest cuts of beef, which are marinated in sweet soy sauce and plopped on top of a bowl of rice.
Zensho’s revenue of JPY370.7 billion (USD4.57b) for the fiscal year through 31 March, marked an 11 percent gain from the previous year as its net income rose 35 percent to JPY4.74b. By comparison, not including franchised stores, McDonald’s Holding Co. (Japan) posted an 11 percent decline in revenue to JPY323.7b for its fiscal year, which runs through 31 December. Worse, the company, which is 50 percent-owned by McDonald’s Corp. in the US, said its net profit for the period slumped 39 percent to JPY7.8b. The beef bowl supremacy was widely reported in the Japanese media, which always likes a food fight.
(Source: The Wall Street Journal Online)