Saizeriya The aim of "meal mask" and "1 yen price increase" is 18:17 on August 24th.

With the mask that you can talk while eating, the price increase of only one yen for "Milan-style Doria". It is a number of measures that the Italian restaurant Saizeriya has launched as a countermeasure against the new coronavirus infection. It was President Horinomoto who led these efforts. Behind the seemingly unusual efforts, we can see a thorough commitment to trying out ideas one after another. (Kenta Shimai, Economics Department reporter)

Build safety

This person who wears Doria in a mask is President Kazunari Hori. Transferred from a researcher at a major food maker, Ajinomoto. Since 2009 he has been leading the company as president.

The mask with a strong impact with a tongue sticking out was introduced from this summer after being discussed with President Horino and the project team based on the ideas that were solicited internally. Naming is "Speakable-kun" in the sense that you can eat while talking.

It was a simple process of covering a commercially available mask with a paper napkin, but it took a lot of trial and error to realize it. We also prototyped a new mask shape from scratch, but after examining the cost and the effect of preventing splashes, we settled on this shape. At first glance, despite the humorous design, he never thinks of it, President Horino. We are confident that this mask will give customers peace of mind and help increase the number of customers visiting the store.

Furthermore, President Horino made an unusual price increase in July. However, most of the products have prices raised from 1 yen to several yen, and some of them have reduced prices. The signboard menu, "Milan-style Doria," starts at 299 yen and costs 300 yen.

The aim of raising the price is to "reduce the change." By making all the menus a fine amount of 50 yen, accounting will be smoother, and the chances of contact between customers and shop assistants will be reduced, leading to peace of mind. It seems that after raising the price, it had the effect of reducing change by 60%.

President Horino:
“The most important thing with Wiz Corona is to create an environment where customers can eat with peace of mind. That is a partition or a talkable person. Relief is a mental or emotional feeling. Since it is a big part, we need safety plus trust. So we have to logically construct safety and devote ourselves to customer service and various things in order to gain trust."

"The unit price for every 50 yen It's just how to reduce the number of contacts. As a result, it has turned into a very good direction for store management, and I think it is a successful example. We made this possible by us. It's because I put up with the price increase all the time and displayed the tax included.I think that the round number of 00 yen just by raising 1 yen or 2 yen is the result of trying hard including tax.

I want to “industrialize” eating out

While offering meals at low prices, Saizeriya has been well-supported by young people because of its good "cospa" and is particular about its taste and ingredients. There is the strategy of President Horino, who has been trying to reduce costs by pursuing thorough efficiency improvement. When President Horino was transferred to Saizeriya, the theme requested by the founder and current chairman, Yasuhiko Masagaki, was "industrialization of eating out."

President Horinobu
"I was originally from a manufacturer and I was invited by the present chairman to tell me to industrialize the restaurant business. I was told to change everything I had done with human tactics until now. There are two important things: One is technology, which is technology that transforms what was inevitably dependent on individual abilities until now into something that everyone can convey. "What you can write in text" is a technology."

"The other is the system. From the manufacturer's point of view, there are quite a lot of places that are missing. In order to do that, we have to raise these kinds of things. We are doing these two things so hard that eventually if the working hours become the same as the manufacturer and the annual income becomes the same as the manufacturer, We think it will be industrialization.''

Profit even with 80% of sales

The impact of the new coronavirus is serious for Saizeriya, which has been promoting management efficiency. The third-quarter earnings announced in July were the first deficit in 11 years. Sales in July have also dropped nearly 30% from the previous year.

However, the business environment is severely limited due to the widening of seats and shortening of business hours to prevent infection.

“We should do

this on the premise that we will not return to the corona,” says President Horino, who is aiming for “a constitution that will make a profit with 80% of the previous sales.

The key to that was the president's liver roasting facility in Saitama Prefecture. Two kitchens recreated in a large warehouse. Investigate the number of steps an employee takes and their movements, and put them into numbers and data. After that, we are trying to identify the waste of store operations and try more efficient movements.

The goal is to reduce the kitchen area by half. We have been working on this even before the spread of the new coronavirus infection, but we are aiming to secure a seating space by narrowing the kitchen so that we can maintain the number of customers even if the distance between the seats is widened as a countermeasure against infection.

A 3D printer is also installed at this facility. We have made several prototypes by changing the shape of tableware and cooking utensils that are efficient in serving and cleaning up in millimeters. We are also ordering wastewater treatment equipment from Europe. It is said that if it actually operates, it will take 30 minutes to close the store.

"To be a regular employee" so that customers can enjoy themselves

President Horino, who is promoting such efficiency, is currently focusing on human resources. It means increasing the number of regular employees. While promoting industrialization, it is important to hone customer service technology and increase customer satisfaction, says President Horino.

President Horino
“We will increase the number of full-time employees. The reason is clear and our business is about to enter a mature stage. The important thing is to reduce the distance from our customers. Until now, during the period of rapid growth, we were actually abandoning it. It was all right with new customers. However, when it comes to maturity, it becomes almost existing customers, and repeaters are important The customer service technology becomes very important.”

“If you make an employee a regular employee and work for a long period of time, the technology will continue to improve. If you are a part-time worker, you will quit in a few years, so it is quite technical. In fact, there are many skills that customer cannot handle, so I would like to consider increasing the number of full-time employees so that customers can fully enjoy their skills.

It was impressive that President Horinobu strongly said that the new coronavirus "had the opportunity to change all the problems". The influence of the spread of infection is great and confusing, but at such times, Mr. Horinobu's management philosophy is to analyze the issues and see what they can do and "try to make ideas one after another". It may be time to show full value.

Economics reporter
Kenta Shimai
Joined in 2012
After working at Miyazaki and Morioka stations