Japan's largest beef bowl chain closes due to contaminated food incident

Japanese fast food chain Sukiya said on March 29 that it will temporarily close nearly all of its approximately 2,000 stores across Japan for four days, starting March 31, to fix food safety problems.

The incident began in January 2025, after a customer reported finding a rat in a bowl of miso soup (a traditional Japanese miso soup) served by a branch of Sukiya in western Japan.

On March 22, Sukiya, Japan’s largest beef bowl brand owned by Zensho Holdings, officially apologized to customers and confirmed the incident. Zensho’s stock price subsequently fell by 7% on March 24.

In a statement on March 29, Sukiya said another food contamination incident had occurred on March 28, when a restaurant in a Tokyo suburb was found to have served a dish with insects inside.

Therefore, the company decided to temporarily suspend operations of all restaurants in Japan, except for a few branches in shopping malls, from the morning of March 31 to the morning of April 4, to implement measures to prevent this food safety and hygiene situation.

As of the end of 2024, Sukiya operated 1,965 stores in Japan, far surpassing its two rivals Yoshinoya (about 1,250 stores) and Matsuya (about 1,100 stores).

Besides the Japanese market, Sukiya also has about 650 stores in China, Southeast Asia and Latin America./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/chuoi-cua-hang-com-bo-lon-nhat-nhat-ban-dong-cua-vi-su-co-thuc-an-ban-post1023565.vnp