Sales at restaurant chains have been sluggish due to the coronavirus pandemic that caused many of them to reduce the number of seats available to customers as a measure to prevent the infections.
Chains of izakaya pubs, which serve alcoholic beverages with a variety of food, are experiencing a severe downturn while concern over a "second wave" of the infection continues.
Same-store sales at yakitori chicken skewer restaurants operated by Torikizoku Co. were down 26.8% in June compared to the same month last year. This was a significant recovery from the 90% drop in May, when many stores were temporarily closed. However, the recent decline in sales has been severe compared to the period before the spread of the virus, when sales remained positive. Torikizoku resumed businesses in June with a reduced number of seats, and some of the restaurants have been operating with shorter hours.
Same-store sales for gyudon beef bowl restaurant chain Yoshinoya fell 12.3% in June. This is the fifth straight month of decline, and the rate of decline in June was worse than the 7.3% decline in May. "The lifting of the state of emergency has widened the options for eating out," an official of the chain said. Among other gyudon chains, Sukiya saw an 8.7% drop and Matsuya saw a 16.8% decrease.
Some other restaurants chains have been performing well but are beginning to show signs of slowing down. KFC Holdings Japan Ltd. announced on Tuesday that same-store sales at its Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in June was down 1.0%. Although the company saw a significant increase of 37.6% in May, there were fewer Saturdays and Sundays in June compared to last June. In addition, there was a lull in demand for take-home meals with the reopening of schools.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
