Interview with the President of Kouchin Co., Ltd.
We spoke with Hori Hiroshi, president of Kouchin Co., Ltd., about the initiatives at Kouchin, which continues to expand its business so that everyone can enjoy delicious food.
A specialized restaurant rooted in Tamashima
Could you tell us what led Kouchin to open affiliated restaurants?
Hori (honorific omitted)
Kouchin was founded by the previous owner, Toshihiro, who wanted people in Tamashima to enjoy their fill of delicious food through Chinese cuisine, which was uncommon at the time. Since then, our desire to bring people in our hometown of Tamashima joy through food has never changed.
When Kouchin opened its first franchise in 1996, there were no national restaurant chains in Tamashima yet, so dining out options were limited. However, Kouchin served only Chinese cuisine.
We thought that opening specialized restaurants would expand the choices for dining out, so we opened affiliated restaurants.
I hear that all your affiliated restaurants value “local production for local consumption.”
Hori
As restaurants rooted in the community, using local ingredients seemed like a natural choice.
For example, we source vegetables and rice from contract farmers in Tamashima; our soy sauce and miso come from Tamashima Miso Shoyu; our vinegar and sauces from Teshimaya; our eggs from Nodahatsu; and our sake from Kikuchi Sake Brewing Co.,Ltd.
Going forward, we hope to continue playing a role in protecting the local food culture as restaurants.
Employee training that values “putting things into words”
With the opening of affiliated restaurants, you’ve added employees and menu items.
How do you continue to share the founding principles amid these changes?
Hori
Including part-time and temporary staff, we now have nearly 100 employees. They range in age from 17 to 76.
We have several locations, and although they are all in Kurashiki City, they are spread out, so we don’t often get to see one another. To address this, we hold an all-staff meeting three times a year called the “Power-Up Meeting,” and create opportunities for daily information sharing through “committees” that connect employees across locations.
The “Power-Up Meeting” is held in January, June, and November, and all our locations close for the day. In November, I, as president, announce the policies for the coming year; in January, each store manager presents their location’s policies; and in June, we share interim reports on how each location is being run.
Of course, we also ask each employee to set annual goals. We also compile Kouchin’s management philosophy and points to keep in mind at work into a handbook each year, so everyone can refer to it at any time.
The reason is that we have high school students working part-time at our restaurants, and for them, simply serving food and saying “Welcome” is already a full day’s work. But to make customers happy, you need to provide additional service and come up with thoughtful touches.
By holding staff meetings and setting goals—in other words, by putting things into words—employees can learn what their coworkers and managers are thinking. We designed the handbook so that when they get used to serving food and greeting customers and wonder what they need to do next, they can open it and find some guidance.
Learning from the community and continuing to grow
You also take part in community service activities together with your employees.
Hori
At first, the chairman and I took part on our own. Then I thought it would be fun to involve employees and customers, so I put out a call through our official LINE account. More people joined than I had imagined.
Some customers are in Tamashima on long-term business trips and say, “I joined because I thought there might be something I could do for Tamashima on my day off.” Others take part with their children and families.
Perhaps because we’re a local Tamashima restaurant, we can invite local people as if they were our neighbors.
Kouchin values local production for local consumption, so we use many ingredients from Tamashima. We also want to value our relationships with our neighbors, and when there’s an interesting event, we invite our neighboring customers.
I think this kind of cycle is a strength of local restaurants.
Do you have any memorable stories from your community service activities?
Hori
Kouchin also accepts middle school students for workplace experience and students from special needs schools for work placements.
We had them use the same work achievement checklist as Kouchin’s part-time employees.
The checklist includes very basic tasks such as “memorize the table numbers,” “bring customers water,” and “serve customers with a smile.” When they think they’ve completed a task, they circle it, then ask their instructor to check that they’ve done it and mark it with a double circle.
We had been using this checklist as a matter of course, but a teacher from the school saw it and praised it, saying, “The information is presented visually, so it’s very easy for people with particular needs to understand.”
We were glad to hear that something that works well for us can work well for all kinds of people, and it made us want to use it more proactively. We now post it somewhere easy to see in the back-of-house area and use it at every location.
Through this, we learned that welcoming people from the community can help us improve our work.
What kind of company would you like to be in the future?
Hori
We’re in the food business, so above all, we want to be a company that serves delicious food and makes our customers happy.
To do that, it’s important that not only I, but all the restaurant staff, starting with the managers, can confidently say, “Come on in and enjoy some delicious food.”
We’ve built up expertise in employee training and organizing our restaurants, and we’ll keep working hard to make Kouchin’s food known to even more people by putting that expertise to use.
Finally, do you have a message for our readers?
Hori
I’ll continue working hard to make delicious food for people to enjoy.
Please come and try Kouchin’s food.
We look forward to welcoming you.
From the Writer
The first time I visited Kouchin, I sat down and was about to look at the menu when a staff member quickly came over and cheerfully asked, “May I explain the menu? This is a seasonal item, and I recommend it.”
When I told Hori about this, he looked pleased and explained, “We taste the seasonal menu items that each location has carefully developed, and only serve the ones we approve. The staff also try them many times during staff meals and exchange opinions, so they’re created by the whole team and mean a lot to them.”
Every Kouchin location has seasonal menu items, and the entire staff work together to develop each menu and serve dishes they’re proud of.
I look forward to seeing Kouchin Co., Ltd. continue to thrive as it keeps taking on new challenges and making progress.
Kouchin Co., Ltd. Information
| Organization | Kouchin Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food service |
| Representative | Hori Hiroshi |
| Year established | 1959 |
| Address | 4701-1 Otsushima, Tamashima, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Contact | Tel: 086-522-5188 |
| Website | Chinese Cuisine Kouchin | For Everyone’s “Delicious!” |
What would you like to know about Kurashiki?
Enter a search term to find articles on this site
