Sushitainable!? | SGDs | New 6 challenges!

New strategies Sushitainable × Six challenges = The first sushi shop for Z generations

Kura Sushi, Inc. who manages a Japanese popular sushi shop, announced that they took a new strategy Sushitainable(Sushi + Sustainable) and prompted six challenges to make it happen. Even under the corona situation, their end of the fiscal period was surplus. They analyzed the reason was because of “Safe and reliable”, “the unique fun experience”, and so on. They think the pandemic will last in 2022, so they think they should respond to the demand and social changes quickly and flexibly. The Sushitainable is the strategy to keep producing their value. There are six challenges for Sushitainable.　

1. New customer acquistion

They plan to focus on the Z generation(people who were born after the late 1990s). In America, it’s said that the Z generation accounts for forty per cent of consumption. In Japan, they also tend to go to restaurants and spread out the information with SNS, so you can say that they have the potential to make the big move. In the future, they will be the centre of consumption, so it should be inevitable to match their preference.

The concept is: “Japanese traditional culture × Tokyo pop culture”

The first restaurant for the Z generation, “Kura Sushi Harajuku” was opened on the 9th of December. Their goal is to be the most visually attractive(such as Instagrammable) Sushi shop in the world. Colourful wall lights, sweet shops, but they look like traditional Japanese restaurants. And their design suits the dating place. And also you can get special crapes.

新戦略｢スシテナブル｣と｢6つのチャレンジ｣でさらなる成長へ業界初｢Z世代向け店舗｣｢原魚の卸売｣開始！ | くら寿司のプレスリリース | 共同通信PRワイヤー (kyodonewsprwire.jp)

2. stable supply

Seafood is getting more popular recently, so ingredients are getting more expensive while it gradually loses Japanese popularity. So Tsunas, salmon roes, crabs, and sea urchins, which are inevitable as Sushi ingredients are more expensive rapidly. What’s more, circumstances of work and unstable salary make young people away from the fishing industry. So now they suffer from short of manpower.

Kura Sushi works on “Revitalization for the fishing industry”. And they established the company KURA Osakana Firm as one of the activities. This company uses AI and IoT to reduce the burden on fishers and optimize aquaculture.

3. Expanding the strategy in Japan

They used to open the restaurants on the area of roadside, but they started to open their shops near main stations in Tokyo, such as Shibuya station and Shinjuku station last year. As a result, they think they found a lot of different potentials compared with the shops around the roadside. So they will keep opening around the central area in Tokyo.

4. Expanding business globally

Kura Sushi opened seven restaurants in America and eleven restaurants in Taiwan. Their goal is 100 restaurants outside Japan.

※The 8th of December, 2021　America：33 restaurants, Taiwan：42 restaurants

5. The measure for pandemic

They started to implement “Smart Kura Sushi”, which will be completed in all shops in 2021. This smart shop produces untouched services. They plan to keep improving the service and introducing new services to keep their shops safe.

6. SDGs

Kura Sushi has the session for the elementary school. They mainly talk about reducing food loss and protecting sea resources to make them understand SDGs.