The Zensho Group, positions itself as a merchandising company, make every effort to provide safe, delicious products through the integrated MMD (Mass Merchandising) System that completely controls the operations from purchasing raw materials to processing at our plants, logistics, and delivery of the finished products to customers in our restaurants. We will continue to improve the MMD System to maximize the return to our shareholders.
Message from the President (1/3 pages)
Zensho's challenge to become the "World's No. 1 Company in the Food Industry"
Our Unwavering Vision
For the nearly three decades since our company was founded, Zensho has held firm to the goal of becoming the No. 1 company in the food industry. With approximately 4,000 restaurants in the Group, and consolidated annual net sales of 334 billion yen (in the fiscal year ended March 2010), we now rank as the largest food service company listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Particularly in this last decade, our consolidated net sales have grown by a factor of about 20.
Underpinning this dramatic growth have been our clear management priorities—first: safety; second: quality; and third: cost. Based on this unequivocal set of priorities, we built the unique Mass Merchandising system (MMD), unrivaled by other companies and crucial to our successful expansion. Specifically, MMD comprises the integrated planning, development and operation of every aspect of the food supply system—from the procurement of raw materials and manufacturing operations to logistics and the serving of products to customers in our restaurants. MMD also includes all facets of restaurant operation. We have applied the extensive know-how accumulated in building MMD to the expansion of Zensho's business across multiple restaurant categories and formats. However, I believe it is Zensho's unwavering vision since the company's founding—to realize a world free from hunger and poverty—that has been the greatest driving force behind the Zensho Group's development. This vision is at the core of all our business operations.
A Resolve to Change the World through Food
The 1960s were a time of extreme instability in international affairs, with global tensions and entanglements arising from the Vietnam War and other events. As a student during that era, my focus and thoughts were on global affairs and how society could be improved. Around two-thirds of the world's population suffered from hunger and poverty, and in countries with large numbers of such people, historical or geographical circumstances made it very difficult to overcome this state of affairs.
I was determined to create a society where all people had access to a stable supply of safe food at all times. My idea was not to provide temporary aid, but to develop an infrastructure for food to take root and evolve in each country and be sustainable over the long term. I founded Zensho with the determination to change the world through the food industry. As a path to realizing that vision, I wanted to make the company No. 1 in the global food business. Together with Zensho's employees, we have moved forward in realizing this vision.
I believe that Zensho's progress up until today may be described as passing one point on the road to achieving our vision. The road to becoming the world's Zensho Group CEO No. 1 lies ahead.
