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Kohaku Sabo
Tendon Kohaku's international expansion is going well. Kohaku Global's President, Mr. Shiraishi released a new derivative brand, named “Kohaku Sabo” last year. He shared the background and passion for this new brand.
＜Evolving brand>
Tendon Kohaku is finally planning to open a restaurant in Seattle, Washington, USA, this spring.
In the US, there are stricter regulations regarding the design and construction of restaurants and the acquisition of permits and licenses, and the process of opening a restaurant differs in many areas from other countries, such as the layout of the restaurant being friendly to customers with disabilities. However, our franchise partners, who have already developed restaurants in the country, are able to proceed with the store design and construction, so we leave it to them. Also, in the US, we need to be particularly careful with labor relations, but these different aspects from other countries are all part of the experience for us.
Currently, there are three Tendon Kohaku restaurants in Singapore, two in the Philippines, one in Malaysia and three in Canada. Last year, we launched a sister brand, the Japanese café Kohaku Sabi, in Singapore.
The concept of the new brand “Kohaku Sabo” is a “Japanese café” that has expanded its menu from the Tendon specialty restaurant.
＜Positioning of Kohaku World Expansion Project>
Tendon Kohaku was a specialty restaurant concept in a relatively compact space, where a chef serves tempura over a counter.
Now, under the name of the ‘Kohaku Project’, we will make it easier for franchise owners in different countries to open and increase the number of restaurants by allowing them to choose the type of restaurant depending on the location where they want to open a restaurant. Restaurant design and menus will also be changed flexibly, while retaining Kohaku identity.
The second phase of Kohaku Project, “Kohaku Sabo”, will broaden the menu by adding not only tendon, but also udon and other noodles, omelette hamburgers, etc., to meet the needs of more categories of customers, such as families with children and large groups of customers. This is more suitable for opening in shopping malls.
The logo of “Kohaku Sabo” also features the words “rice, sake, noodles and tea”, the basis of Japanese food, in the shape of a bowl of rice topped with a bowl of tendon, and also represents the desire to provide “authentic, refined quality Japanese food” rather than the “pseudo-Japanese food” that is often found overseas.
＜A wide range of menu categories unique to Japanese café>
The most popular menu item at “Kohaku Sabo” is the ‘half and half’, which allows customers to enjoy both a half-size bowl of tendon and a half-size bowl of their favorite type of udon. This is very popular with female customers. Another popular Japanese café dessert is Mochimochi Dango Kyoto-style, in which customers bake their own rice cakes on a shichirin (charcoal griddle). Other carefully selected Japanese desserts such as sweet potato crème brûlée and green tea parfait are also available.
In addition to udon noodles with dashi broth, we have also created a menu structure that literally delights customers of all ages, including mentaiko cream udon noodles and carbonara udon noodles, which are not bound by the traditional Japanese food framework. This, combined with our reputation on social networking sites, has so far been very successful. Sales have increased by 180% compared to before the renovation. We have partners in other countries who want to switch from “Tendon Kohaku” to “Kohaku Sabo”.
In Singapore, where labor costs are high, we are also actively promoting DXing, and have now introduced a CRM system for “Kohaku Sabo”, which replaces QR code orders and point cards at the tables. The system contributes to improving the level of customer service by reducing serving time and allowing the hall staff to concentrate on serving food and refilling tea.
＜Aiming a genuine restaurant chain from Japan >
Recently, as Kohaku brand has been expanding around the world, gradually changing its form, we have sometimes wondered what we have achieved in the world through our Kohaku Project.
The answer is that when I was in my twenties and studying abroad, I felt uneasy about the local food situation, and a global chain restaurant on a street corner gave me a sense of security that I could easily enter. In a country where we didn’t know the culture, it was a ‘sense of security’ to find a restaurant that we knew and a taste that I knew.
There must be times when you suddenly want to eat Japanese food in between trips abroad. We want to realize this ‘sense of security’ as a chain restaurant from Japan all over the world.
Up to last year, we have launched the Tendon specialty restaurant “Tendon Kohaku “and Japanese café style “Kohaku Sabo”, and this year we will be able to present the new Kohaku in a further different type of location.
We will continue to take on the challenge of expanding the Japanese chain of “refined quality” and “authentic Japanese food” around the world.