Due to the problem that school lunches and dormitories are suddenly no longer provided in various parts of the country, we learned that Hoyu in Hiroshima City, which provides meals, is considering filing for bankruptcy proceedings with the Hiroshima District Court due to the deterioration of the business environment due to soaring food and utility costs.
table of contents
Company considers bankruptcy proceedings "Soaring food costs, etc., deteriorating business environment"
Impact spreads nationwide Responding with lunch boxes
In some cases, Hoyu employees continue to cook
The circle of support for students begins to expand
Open Table of Contents
table of contents
table of contents
Company considers bankruptcy proceedings "Soaring food costs, etc., deteriorating business environment"
Impact spreads nationwide Responding with lunch boxes
In some cases, Hoyu employees continue to cook
The circle of support for students begins to expand
Company considers bankruptcy proceedings "Soaring food costs, etc., deteriorating business environment"
Hoyu, headquartered in Naka-ku, Hiroshima City, has been involved in school lunches, student dormitories, and cafeterias for government offices, but since the beginning of this month, high schools, special needs schools, and police academies in various regions have been unable to provide school lunches and meals.
As the impact spreads throughout the country, company officials say that Hoyu is considering filing for bankruptcy proceedings with the Hiroshima District Court due to the deterioration of the business environment due to soaring food and utility costs.
In addition, on the 6th, staff from the Hiroshima Labor Bureau entered the head office of "Hoyu" for about two hours to confirm future responses.
According to the company's website, Hoyu has 2 sales offices in Kyushu,, Tokai, Kanto, and Tohoku, in addition to the Chugoku region and Shikoku, and as of April Reiwa, 22 employees, including part-time employees, are working.
Hiroshima: Six prefectural high schools adjust due to contract cancellation
This month, six Hiroshima prefectural high schools that stopped providing meals to dormitories from "Hoyu" began coordination to terminate their contracts with the company.
Six schools have made adjustments to terminate their contracts: Miyoshi High School in Miyoshi City, Shobara Kakuji High School in Shobara City, Saijo Shisui High School, Shobara Jitsugyo High School, Aburaki High School in Jinseki Kogen Town, and Saijo Agricultural High School in Higashihiroshima City.
According to the Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education, the deadline for both contracts with "Hoyu" was until the end of March Reiwa 6, but arrangements were made to cancel the contract because "it is clear that the business cannot be performed normally."
Of these, Miyoshi High School, which has a contract with Hoyu with five schools except Saijo Agricultural High School, is currently working to cancel the contract and will respond by providing lunch boxes to dormitory students until the 6th of this month.
Miyoshi High School stated that there had been no explanation from Hoyu so far, but said, "Students are obliged to provide solid meals that take into account nutritional aspects, and we would like to proceed with work so that the next contract can be concluded as soon as possible.
Impact spreads nationwide Responding with lunch boxes
Shizuoka Bring your own lunch
According to the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education, since the end of last month, Hoyu, which is headquartered in Hiroshima City, which provides meals to schools and other facilities, has been unable to contact them, and by the 5th, a total of five part-time high schools and special needs schools in the prefecture have been unable to provide school lunches.
Of these, Fuji Prefectural Fuji Special Needs School in Fuji City, which has more than 5 students from elementary school to high school, has been unable to provide school lunches since the 380th, and has been forced to ask students to bring their own lunches.
At noon on the 4th, the fifth-grade elementary school class spread out the bento boxes they had brought on their desks when it was time for lunch, and ate with the signal of "masutasu."
The grade chief teacher said, "There is not much confusion among the children, but I think it was difficult because the parents made a sudden request."
In addition, a male student in the third year of junior high school said, "It seemed difficult for my mother to get up early and make a lunch box, so I want to eat school lunch as soon as possible."
According to the school, the school procured the ingredients for the school lunch provided and eight cooks under contract with the vendor were in charge of cooking, but the school lunch room was not used for the last time this month cooking, and the trolleys for serving food were lined up empty.
Akihiko Takio, principal of Fuji Prefectural Special Needs School, said, "I was surprised by the unexpected situation, and I have heard that the prefecture will directly secure cooks, so we would like to aim for the reopening as soon as possible."
In addition, according to the Prefectural Board of Education, the dormitory of Yaizu Fisheries High School in Yaizu City will stop providing meals from the 6th, so the school will arrange bread and lunch boxes and distribute them to students.
In addition, Fuji High School's part-time system will continue to be provided until the 5th, but the response after next week is undecided.
The Prefectural Board of Education has not decided when it will reopen, and is considering providing catered lunches and securing cooks to reduce the burden on parents.
Furthermore, in Shizuoka Prefecture, the National Shimizu Marine Technical College in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka City, has been unable to provide meals since the 3th.
Aichi Cafeteria with no prospect of reopening
Aichi Prefectural College of Nursing has been leasing the cafeteria kitchen to Hoyu, which is headquartered in Hiroshima City, since Heisei 22 and has been providing meals for students, but it is no longer possible to provide it even after the start of the new semester.
According to the school, in June this year, "Hoyu" offered to reopen the cafeteria after the summer vacation, and it had been closed since July.
However, late last month, the school repeatedly called to ask for a specific date for reopening, but could not confirm because the person in charge was absent.
On the 6th, we received a report that schools and other facilities across the country could no longer contact the vendor, so we called the vendor again, but we still cannot be contacted, and there is no prospect of reopening the cafeteria.
Hirotomo Shirai, director of the general affairs division of Aichi Prefectural College of Nursing, said, "Students are bringing lunch boxes and other items to have lunch, and the school will continue to contact them, but we do not know what to do in the future."
According to Aichi Prefecture, there is no information that school lunches at elementary, junior high, and high schools in the prefecture have been affected so far, so we are continuing to collect information.
Kyoto Teachers cook rice by themselves
Meals have not been provided at the dormitories of two prefectural high schools in Kyoto Prefecture since the 2th, and the school has arranged lunch boxes and teachers are busy cooking rice on their own.
According to the Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education, the dormitories of two prefectural high schools were provided with meals from Hoyu, a company headquartered in Hiroshima City, but among them, the prefectural agricultural high school in Nantan City, Kyoto Prefecture, stopped providing meals from the 5th.
At the high school, about 2 students, or 5% of the total students, live in dormitories on campus, and 6 of them were suddenly switched to commuting.
For the remaining 100 people, bread and boxed lunches were arranged at local shops.
However, there are many students who do not have enough food, and teachers respond by cooking rice in a pot or buying powdered soup at the supermarket.
From the morning of the 40th, the staff of the inn were to cook rice for breakfast to the students in a rice cooker for practical training, but other than that, only bread and instant miso soup were prepared.
Yoshihide Yukawa, principal of Kyoto Prefectural Agricultural High School, said, "I am sorry for the students because we cannot provide meals even though it is a high school where agriculture is studied, and the faculty and staff are doing what they can.
Shimane Bulk order such as rice balls at convenience stores
At the prefectural vocational training school "Tobu High Technical School" in Izumo City, Shimane Prefecture, the meals of the trainees' dormitory have been outsourced to "Hoyu" since the 28th academic year, and the cooks employed by the company cooked three meals on weekdays and meals for 3 dormitory students.
However, on the morning of the 34th, the cook told the school that he could no longer make lunch for lunch on the 5th, and pulled him out of the cooking room in the dormitory.
On the 5th, the school ordered rice balls and other items in bulk from a nearby convenience store for breakfast, and purchased boxed lunches from local vendors for lunch and dinner.
According to the school, there is one and a half years left in the contract with "Hoyu", but there is no explanation about the suspension of the provision of meals, and the telephone is not connected.
The school is looking for a vendor to replace Hoyu, and Masanori Yamazaki, principal of Tobu High School of Technology, said, "I think it will be inconvenient for dormitory students because the meals will be boxed lunches, so we want to find another vendor as soon as possible so that we can provide hot meals. In addition, we would like to proceed with procedures such as what will happen to the accounting treatment for the remaining contract period on the Hoyu side."
香川 弁当持参や別の業者を手配
Even in Kagawa Prefecture, the cafeterias of four facilities, including high schools and universities, have been affected by the inability to provide meals.
The provision of meals from Hoyu has been suspended or decided to be suspended at four facilities: Kotohira High School in Kotohira High School in Mikicho, and the Prefectural Police Academy and Takamatsu University in Takamatsu City.
Of these, the cafeteria at Kotohira High School is used by 4 to 4 people a day, but until the 1th, meals were provided only on some menus.
From the 30th, we will stop serving meals and ask people to bring their own lunches.
Miki High School has stopped providing meals since the 40th, and the Prefectural Police Academy has arranged for another vendor to provide meals from the 6st of this month.
In addition, Takamatsu University is currently on summer vacation, but it will not be possible to provide meals from the 7nd of this month, when classes begin, so they are considering a response.
Hirotaka Nagao, vice principal of Kotohira High School, said, "It's a sudden and one-sided story, so I'm preoccupied with thinking about what I can do to help the students lead a normal school life.
Hoyu employee "I am really sorry" A female employee in her 6s of "Hoyu" who works in the cafeteria of Kotohira High School in Kotohira Town said, "
There are students who use the cafeteria every day, so I am truly sorry."
In addition, this employee has not been able to contact the head office, so he said, "When I came to school on the 1st of this month, I received a letter from the head office and it also said about my salary, so I contacted the head office by phone, but I have not been able to contact you until today. He said.
Kagoshima Schools buy bread and arrange lunch boxes
In Kagoshima Prefecture, the Prefectural Police Academy in Aira City and the Vocational Skill Development Junior College "Polytech College Kawauchi" in Satsumasendai City have a contract with "Hoyu", and it is known that the provision of meals has been suspended.
Of these, Polytech College Kawauchi had a contract to provide three meals for 81 people in the student dormitory, but from the 3st of this month, it has been unable to contact the head office of "Hoyu".
Until dinner on the 1th, Hoyu employees who are in charge of cooking in the student dormitory used leftover ingredients, but from lunch on the 5th, they arranged for catered lunches.
Junro Ajisaka, principal of Polytech College Kawauchi, said, "We are surprised by the sudden stoppage, and we will do our best to deal with it so that it does not affect us."
In addition, the dormitory of the prefectural police academy did not receive food, and it was not possible to provide three meals for more than 6 people from the 6th, so the school is purchasing bread and arranging lunch boxes from another vendor.
In some cases, Hoyu employees continue to cook
Iwate
At a special needs school in Yahaba Town, Iwate Prefecture, where four Hoyu employees work, employees have been cooking school lunches without being able to contact the company after receiving a letter from the company stating that their salary payments will be delayed on the first day of this month.
According to the Morioka and Nan Support School in Yahaba Town, Iwate Prefecture, four Hoyu employees cook and provide about 4 meals a day, including school lunches for students and staff, meals from the dormitory, and so on.
On the 1st of this month, the company sent a letter to four employees who were cooking school lunches at the school stating that their salaries for August would be delayed, but since then, neither the employees nor the school have been able to contact them.
Since the ingredients are procured by the school, the employees cooked and served school lunches at the school for six days without contacting the company, but the employees have voiced their concerns about what will happen to them.
Shunichi Takahashi, secretary general of Morioka and Nannan Support School, said, "Some of the students have difficulty swallowing their meals, so we ask them to make liquid food, and the four employees continue to make school lunches for the children. I want Hoyu to explain properly and respond in good faith."
Fukuoka
Yanagawa Prefectural Special Needs School in Yanagawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture, has signed a contract with the Hiroshima City company "Hoyu" to consign the preparation of school lunches for about 130 children, students, and faculty members.
According to the school, on the 1st of this month, the cook of "Hoyu" told me that his salary had not been transferred, and he tried to contact Hoyu by phone or email, but he had not been contacted by the 6th.
Even so, the nine cooks continued to cook as scheduled using ingredients purchased by the school, saying that they would not bother the children.
However, they are discussing with the prefecture what to do after the 9th of next week.
Principal Hiroaki Kumagawa said, "The school is in great trouble, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the cooks for providing school lunches under these circumstances."
In addition, the cafeteria of Genkai-no-ie, a prefectural boys' nature house in Munakata City, which has a contract with Hoyu, will not be able to provide meals after the 11th of next week, when ingredients are in stock.
Prospective users are contacted to arrange meals at a nearby bento shop.
Nagasaki
The National Kuchinotsu Marine Technical School in Minamishimabara City, Nagasaki Prefecture, has been unable to contact "Hoyu" since the 1st of this month.
According to the Maritime Education Organization, which oversees the Maritime Technical School, Hoyu cooks serve three meals a day in a dormitory where 71 students live.
Currently, Hoyu cooks voluntarily come to schools to provide meals, but the wages of the cooks and the payment to the vendors who deliver the ingredients are delayed.
The Japan Maritime Education Organization is considering future measures with a view to changing the payment destination for food expenses from "hoyu" to cooks and food delivery companies.
In addition, Nagasaki Nichidai Junior and Senior High School in Isahaya City, Nagasaki Prefecture, where 3,1580 students attend, also outsource work to Hoyu and provide lunch at the cafeteria, but the school was informed by Hoyu earlier this week that it may not be able to provide lunch in the future.
Currently, meals are being provided as usual, but the school is negotiating with the "Hoyu" side to change the contractor to another vendor.
The circle of support for students begins to expand
Hiroshima
At the prefectural Aburaki High School in Jinseki Kogen Town, dinner for students in the dormitory was provided by an international school in the town.
This decision was made in response to a proposal from Jinseki International School, a private boarding elementary school in the town.
For four weekdays next week and the next week, the more than 4 dormitory students of Aburaki High School will have dinner in the cafeteria of the international school.
In addition, the supermarket management company headquartered in Fukuyama City and an NPO in Jinseki Kogen Town are planning to provide boxed lunches, and the circle of support for students who suddenly no longer provide meals is beginning to expand.