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Yoshinoya to restart 'gyudon' beef bowl sales Sept. 18(Kyodo News International (Tokyo) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 6--TOKYO -- Fast-food restaurant chain Yoshinoya D&C Co. said Wednesday it will restart sales of "gyudon" rice bowls topped with seasoned U.S. beef on Sept. 18, more than two-and-a-half years after removing the mainstay dish from its menu. But beef bowl sales will be limited as U.S. beef imports remain slack since Japan lifted its ban on the imports in late July. The ban was imposed due to fears over mad cow disease. A total of 1 million beef bowls will be sold at all but 12 Yoshinoya outlets throughout Japan on Sept. 18 to mark the resumption. Due to higher beef costs, the price of an ordinary-size beef bowl will be 380 yen and that of a large bowl 480 yen, compared with 280 yen and 440 yen, respectively, before beef bowl sales were suspended, Yoshinoya said. "I am so happy that we will be able to provide gyudon at last. I am certain about the safety (of the beef)," Yoshinoya President Shuji Abe said at a news conference. "It will take a considerable span of time to alleviate consumer anxieties about the dish, but we will do our utmost to wipe out their fears by providing them with scientific explanations," he said. On Sept. 19, only Yoshinoya's Tsukiji outlet will offer beef bowls. Beginning Sept. 21, 20 Yoshinoya restaurants in Hokkaido will join the Tsukiji outlet to serve beef bowls for a limited period each day. Between Oct. 1 and 5, and Nov. 1 and 5, all Yoshinoya restaurants will sell a combined 1 million beef bowls daily. Beginning Dec. 1, all Yoshinoya restaurants will offer beef bowls for a limited period each day, the company said. Yoshinoya, which depended solely on U.S. beef imports for its beef bowls, suspended sales of the flagship product in February 2004 after Japan imposed an import ban on U.S. beef following the discovery of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease in December 2003. The company has since sold the dishes on only one day, in February 2005. Other gyudon chains in Japan were forced to remove gyudon from their menu in February 2004, but they later resumed beef bowl sales by switching to beef from other countries such as Australia. Yoshinoya, which was Japan's largest gyudon chain, remained in the red two straight years as it decided not to follow its rivals, saying its gyudon would not taste the same using non-U.S. beef. The company said it has no plans to withdraw the upward revision, released earlier, of its consolidated financial results for the business year to Feb. 28. In the revision, the firm forecast its net balance for the year will swing back to the black at 2.2 billion yen, assuming it would be able to resume beef bowl sales during the second half. Japan lifted the ban in December 2005 but reinstated it in January after it was discovered that a U.S. veal shipment to Japan contained part of a backbone, which is prohibited under a bilateral pact. On July 27, the government decided to end the import ban following inspections of U.S. meatpacking plants. To see more of Kyodo News International, go to http://www.kyodonews.com Copyright (c) 2006, Kyodo News International, Tokyo Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |