Three major "gyudon" -- beef-on-rice -- restaurant chains have started to offer their regular-sized bowls at discounted prices for a limited time, aiming to survive the heated price war during the summer season.
Sukiya, operated by Zensho Co., began selling its regular-sized gyudon bowl at 250 yen on July 27, 30 yen cheaper than usual, followed by Yoshinoya Co. offering its version at 270 yen -- down 110 yen -- from July 28. Matsuya Foods Co. will drop its price to 250 yen -- a drop of 70 yen -- from July 29.
At noon on July 27, there was a line of some 30 people in front of Sukiya's Shinagawa Higashi restaurant in Tokyo's Minato Ward, which sparked the price-cutting war.
"I often order Sukiya's regular size because its usual price is the cheapest," says a 52-year-old man who works for a company nearby. "The range of the price reduction is small, but I appreciate that I can eat it for 250 yen."
As of July 27, there were 1,473 Sukiya outlets in Japan. The chain became the biggest gyudon provider in September 2008, surpassing Yoshinoya. Sukiya has been enjoying good store sales since March this year, up more than 10 percent compared to the same period last year. Matsuya (755 outlets as of the end of June, the third largest company in the market) has also been seeing a year-on-year rise in sales since April.
Meanwhile, Yoshinoya (1,185 outlets as of the end of June), the No. 2 gyudon company, has been suffering a double-digit year-on-year drop since December last year, except April when it reduced the price of its regular-sized gyudon dish for a limited time, and saw a 6.9 percent decline from last year.
In December last year, Sukiya and Matsuya discounted their regular-sized gyudon but Yoshinoya did not follow the trend in consideration of the high cost of raw materials, including relatively expensive U.S. beef. Sukiya and Matsuya have increased sales with more customers despite a decline in the average amount each customer spends. Both companies achieved double-digit increases in net profits for their consolidated results for the business year ending in March 2010, compared to the previous term.
As a result of a decline in customer traffic, comparable-store sales at Yoshinoya have fallen. With its ailing group companies, Yoshinoya Holdings Co. suffered an overall deficit of 8.9 billion yen in its consolidated financial statements for the business year ending in February 2010, its worst result ever. In an effort to combat this, Yoshinoya ran a limited-time offer for its gyudon in April this year.
However, the two rivals competed against Yoshinoya's attempt with even cheaper prices. There were only two days when Yoshinoya was able to offer its gyudon at the lowest price, compared to the other chains.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/business/news/20100728p2a00m0na012000c.html
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