CEO’s Message

Achieve further growth through quick decision making
　In June 2025, I was appointed Representative Director, President & CEO. In order to realize the corporate philosophy of Zensho, “Taking Responsibility for the Stability and Development of Human Society, Helping Eradicate Hunger and Poverty from the World Through Food,” we must further increase the speed of our growth, without being satisfied with the current corporate scale. I will be visiting the Group’s stores and other places of business so that I can make management decisions quickly based on actual situations in the field, and thereby contribute to the acceleration of our growth.

Reform of businesses in Japan and rebuilding of safety
　In increasing the speed of growth, the first thing we must do is to strengthen the foundation of our businesses in Japan.
　Specifically, first, we must thoroughly ensure that all stores are providing delicious products in clean stores. Zensho has defined safety, quality and price(cost) as our management priorities for many years. However, given the recent incidents of contamination with foreign objects or substances, these priorities were far from sufficiently reflected in actual practices at the frontlines of business, and we take the fact with utmost seriousness. By considering the issue, we will implement countermeasures not only in terms of operations, such as allocation of adequate time for cleaning and thorough education on hygiene, but also in terms of facilities, such as renovation of aging stores.
　Another thing we would like to promote is the enhancement of businesses to be able to open stores. Currently, only a few businesses in Japan are opening tens of stores per year. I believe that many of the food service businesses Zensho is operating in Japan will be able to gain further customer support and accelerate store openings if they are enhanced. We will quickly promote the enhancement of the businesses in terms of products and operations, as well as in terms of spaces such as store design.

Expansion of Global Business and creation of synergy
　In addition, in the Global Business, in other words, overseas business development, one of the cores is held by the to-go sushi business.
　In 2024, all affiliates engaging in the to-go sushi business, which Zensho has been including in the Group since the first addition of AFC in the U.S. in 2018, were integrated into the Wonderfield Group. While we have been taking time for integration within the Wonderfield Group and business integration with Zensho, I believe that to-go sushi is the optimal format for selling Japanese food in so-called developed countries such as in Europe and North America, and presents significant room for growth.
　As another topic related to the food service businesses, Hama-Sushi, in addition to Sukiya, is making certain achievements in overseas business development, and we are planning to accelerate store openings.

Human resources as the many and the proud are the key for our growth
　The most important key for realizing the growth strategies is human resources, or human capital that generates added value. We are working to develop a large number of competitive human resources based on the idea of the many and the proud. In order to cope with the speed of business growth, we will offer opportunities to take on challenges in various fields including overseas to young and mid-career human resources and create a cycle for them to drastically enhance their abilities.
　Also, in order for a company to continue growing, it is necessary that its employees can fully understand the corporate philosophy and take it as their own issue. At Sukiya, employees demonstrated their awareness of being local food infrastructure during the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in 2024 by voluntarily joining the relief efforts in resuming store operations and opening soup kitchen with food trucks. As seen in this example, our corporate philosophy drives the actions of individual employees, which is a strength of Zensho.

Always be an extraordinary company based on our philosophy
　Since its foundation, Zensho has been achieving rapid growth with the exceptional corporate philosophy of eradicating hunger and poverty from the world and the ambitious goal to be the world’s top food company. In bringing such a company forward into the future, I believe that the last thing we should do is to make it an ordinary company. In order to realize our exceptional corporate philosophy, we must always be an extraordinary company, supported by the extraordinary members who came to us with a shared understanding of our corporate philosophy.
　Going forward, we are determined to continue growing to achieve the stability and development of human society and eradication of hunger and poverty, by adding people who have a shared understanding our corporate philosophy as the members of the Group and cooperating with our trading partners as a partner who will grow together with them.