"When does lunch start?"
and "I miss the pork soup,"
I was supported by the voices of regular customers during the days when I closed the restaurant and couldn't see the future.
More than three years have passed since the spread of infection that changed the lives of many people, and from this month, we will deliver handmade bento boxes in the kitchen car.
Even after the transition to Class 3, things may not return to their original state, but I just want to spend my time cheerfully and energetically with a smile.
It should be a little closure
Mariko Yoshizawa(61)
Mariko Yoshizawa temporarily closed her restaurant in Tokyo in the spring of 2020, when the first state of emergency was declared.
"At first, I didn't take it so seriously that there would be cooperation money and that if I took a break, it would come back soon."
Set meals served at restaurants at the time
Seasonal rice and pork soup are free to refill.
The lunch shop in one of the buildings was crowded with many customers every day, including families and office workers in the neighborhood.
Even so, amid the spread of infection, we agreed to close our business so that we should not infect our valued regular customers.
Inside the store at that time
However, once the infection situation seems to have calmed down, it spreads again.
In the midst of uncertain days, we had no choice but to close the store six months later.
Kitchen Car Unexpected Predicament
I wanted to continue the restaurant business somehow, so I tried to start a kitchen car instead.
If it is sold outdoors, the risk of infection should be low.
It was also a plus that the maintenance cost was lower than that of the store.
Aired on October 2020, 10
The cost of renting a car, which costs 3,50 yen in three months, seemed to be partially covered by subsidies.
Around this time, Mr. Yoshizawa responded to an interview with NHK and conveyed his desire to move forward.
"It was a shame to close the store because there were many regular customers and it was open happily every day, but it seems that we can start a new business somehow."
However, things did not go as expected.
At that time, other restaurants were also trying to switch to kitchen cars one after another, and when it came time to find a place to open a restaurant, competition was fierce and it was difficult to secure one.
As telework progressed, the number of people in office districts decreased sharply, and demand itself was also decreasing.
Marunouchi, Tokyo, March 2020
In the end, we managed to keep the business going by using this car to deliver catered lunches and catering to vendors.
"It was getting tougher and harder, and I didn't know what to do, and I was very worried about what I would do if the infection didn't subside.
"I miss the pork soup."
I was able to continue working, but I couldn't serve meals directly to customers as I used to.
I learned the importance of face-to-face meetings.
"I miss my customers. Casual conversations like, 'Did you have a good thing today?' were very important and important. With home delivery, you can't talk slowly, and even if you deliver it, you can just say thank you and leave it as it is, or just hang it at the door."
After that, from around the time of the third wave in 2021, infections related to eating and drinking, such as cluster outbreaks at dinners, attracted attention.
The government also asked for shortening business hours and suspending the provision of alcoholic beverages, and the situation continued to be difficult for restaurants.
When I was about to break my heart in the days with no end in sight, emails from regular customers were supportive.
"Sometimes I would get emails like, 'I miss the pork soup,' or 'When do you want to start lunch?' so I couldn't quit the restaurant business. I replied, 'I'm sad not to see you, but we'll start as soon as the emergency is lifted.' It's been three years
since I quit the restaurant business, and once I put it away, I may never be able to go back.
He tried to endure as much as possible for the customers who were waiting for him.
What you can do
What should be made and how should it be sold?
Who should I sell to? I kept asking myself questions.
In the summer of 2022, we used a subsidy to install equipment for events.
We thought that as the world gradually became accustomed to Corona, local festivals and foreign tourists might return.
I gathered the children I knew to make popcorn and cotton candy together, and even set up a stall at a festival that was held for the first time in a long time.
Cotton candy was very popular.
The smile and the word "delicious" that I saw face-to-face for the first time in a long time.
Everyone seemed happy to be together for the first time in a long time.
Revival in the kitchen car after 3 years
And this month.
Mr. Yoshizawa decided to open a kitchen car in a corner of Ginza.
It was triggered by a proposal from a company with which we had dealings because people were returning to the office district due to the relaxation of infection control measures.
It has been three years since we aimed to operate in kitchen cars.
"Oh, finally!"
they sell healthy bento boxes with brown rice and vegetables, as well as curry and demikatsu bowls made with the most pressed meat.
We are preparing it so that you can eat it while it is warm.
What Mr. Yoshizawa wants to value by regaining "face-to-face" is the interaction with customers in casual conversations.
"I think it's a restaurant business where you meet customers face-to-face, so I hope you can add a few words like 'Hello' or 'Oh, you came yesterday' instead of just selling."
"Even if it becomes Class 5..."
On the other hand, even after the transition to Class 5, there are people who continue to face the "new normal" that has changed.
Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture Special nursing home for the elderly "Dear Oka Ichikawa"
At the special nursing home for the elderly, "Oai no Oka Ichikawa," where elderly people at high risk of developing severe illness live, infection control measures such as wearing masks are continuing.
Even if it is changed to Class 5, the risk of infection and severe illness has not decreased, and in order to prevent clusters and deaths, it is said that basic measures cannot be relaxed.
Still, "face-to-face" revival
Under these circumstances, the facility has resumed face-to-face visits.
Until now, face-to-face meetings have been prohibited in principle, and meetings using wireless microphones across windows have been conducted.
However, from April, we resumed face-to-face meetings and are easing the number of appointments we accept per day, doubling the number of appointments we receive per day.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has also requested that the decrease in visitation opportunities "affect the physical and mental health of residents" and that they should resume as much as possible while taking infection control measures.
A 4-year-old man who visited his wife said, "I think the facility is doing everything they can, but I am worried that the symptoms of dementia will progress and my family members will be forgotten, so I hope that they will be able to visit freely and stay at home temporarily."
On the other hand, restrictions will remain in place, such as continuing to be unable to visit in the living space, thorough wearing of masks in the building, and residents not being allowed to go out except in emergencies.
"Dear Hill Ichikawa" facility manager Tetsutaka Chino
Mr. Chino, the director of the facility, said, "Unless there is a glimmer of hope, such as the coronavirus becoming less severe, I think we cannot relax the basic measures just now.
He then said:
However, the people who live in facilities are people who are life-threatening if infected, and I tell the staff to be very careful about their daily behavior. However, there are no staff members who are relaxed. From now on, it will be difficult to protect the safety of residents while returning to restricted interactions with their families and local people."
After three years that changed many lives, with a smile
Mr. Yoshizawa will open a kitchen car from this month.
The bento boxes that Yoshizawa makes are packed with menus that pay attention to the health of the people who eat them.
Fried shrimp in 5 colors, scallops boiled in olive oil, zucchini rolls, colorful pickles, and energetic rice with enzyme brown rice.
It is said that the menu is prepared in consideration of the person's situation, and it is sometimes adjusted according to the likes and dislikes of each person.
When I asked Mr. Yoshizawa again about his thoughts before the revival after three years, he replied with the following words.
Mariko Yoshizawa(61)
The last three years have been really hard and difficult, but even if I think about those things, I can't move forward, and although it may not go back to the way it was, I just want to
spend my time with a cheerful and energetic smile." "There is no difference in continuing infection control measures as before, but I am very happy and looking forward to seeing how happy customers are in front of me and to know that I am serving customers with a smile."