We turn our focus on Japanese supermarket chain Seijo Ishii this week. It has more than 200 stores around Japan and sells local and imported goods. It has delectable desserts such as coffee jelly and its most popular product is the premium cheesecake. It also sells homemade side dishes such as Chinese meat dumplings and Dak Galbi.
Founded nearly 100 years ago, Seijo Ishii started as a small food market in a luxury residential district called Seijo. Subsequently, grew in popularity for its line of high-quality imported goods. In 1976, it began trading as a supermarket and continued to flourish during COVID-19, with its annual sales exceeding one trillion yen. It constantly aims to bring in rare goods and new products.
However, Seijo Ishii is facing several difficulties such as a weak yen and the resulting rise in the price of imports. It is thus challenging for the company to source goods, with some products seeing a rise in prices by hundreds of yen.
Tomoyuki Hamada is Seijo Ishii’s top buyer responsible for its product line-up. He has had to grapple with the rapid rise of air freight rates. An example of a product which is affected is Beaujolais Nouveau wine. Its price has increased from between 2,500 yen and 3,000 yen to between 5,000 and 6,000 yen. So in June 2022, at a meeting of the executive board at the headquarters of Seijo Ishii in Yokohama City, Mr Hamada brings up his idea of inventing a new red wine from Australia, highlighting it to the company’s President Akihiko Hara.
Mr Hamada and his colleagues then make a five-day trip to Australia in September and first head to Cairns. They visit a sugar melon farm managed by Mr Shaun, a famous academic and agriculture specialist. He tells the team that the soil in this area was created after a volcanic eruption long ago. Mr Hamada is keen to import the melons and sell them at Seijo Ishii’s stores. He gets the buy-in of Mr Shaun, who agrees to ship the melons to Japan. The next day, the team travels to Melbourne to participate in a food exhibition. As Australia is an agricultural powerhouse, various goods ranging from fruits and vegetables, to dairy products and processed foods are on display at the exhibition. Mr Hamada and his team manage to negotiate with many companies here.
On the last day of their trip, they go to the town of Griffith. They meet John Quarisa, who has a winery with the brand name of Johnny Q. The team wants to create a new wine and they go to the vineyard, where the grapes are harvested from March to April. The Seijo Ishiii team includes Mr Wakabayashi, who is in charge of alcoholic purchases and is also a qualified sommelier.
Mr Hamada and his team taste three varieties of wine made with grapes harvested this year – a traditional Pinot Noir, a second type of Pinot Noir from a different field and a third variety. The different wines are then blended and offered to Mr Hamada and Mr Wakabayashi. They like this blend and decide to sell it as a new nouveau at Seijo Ishii. After returning to Japan, Mr Hamada lets Mr Hara taste the wine and melon and gets his sign-off before finalising the order to get them directly shipped from Australia.
Seijo Ishii set up its new Central Kitchen 3 in Yamato City, Kanagawa Prefecture, last summer. This is where its handmade side dishes and desserts, including its cheesecake, are made. This kitchen is 1.5 times bigger than the other central kitchens in order to increase production and make new products.
The head of the sweets and confectionary department, Mitsuo Shozo, is the person who created the store’s premium cheesecake. More than one million pieces are sold each year. Mr Mitsuo has been tasked by Mr Hamada to create a confectionary that best conveys the quality of locally grown chestnuts in Ibaraki Prefecture. During his first attempt, he mixes the Japanese chestnut paste with cream and adds matcha, after which it is topped with Mont Blanc cream. Mr Mitsuo’s colleagues try it but find that the matcha overpowers the chestnut’s flavour. So Mr Mitsuo tries making it again with just the fresh cream. A standard sponge cake is used and he adds a generous helping of chestnut cream from Ibaraki.
In September 2022, the company’s monthly tasting session is held and President Hara tastes the Mont Blanc cake created by Mr Mitsuo. He feels it lacks depth and asks Mr Mitsuo to improve on it. So Mr Mitsuo continues to try different things in the new Central Kitchen. After struggling for a month, he finally hits the right note by adding a paste made with crushed chocolate and nuts, and the Mont Blanc butter cake with chestnuts is finalised. It goes on sale in Seijo Ishii’s stores in October 2022.
In late October, the nouveau wine and melons arrive from Australia at Seijo Ishii’s Kanto Distribution Centre. Mr Hamada had ordered two containers of the wine, an equivalent of about 29,000 bottles. In November, a fair is held at Seijo Ishii’s Hamadayama store to promote the new wine, which has been branded as a “nouveau for the start of winter”. The sugar melons from Mr Shaun’s farm in Australia are also on display, together with about 20 other new products.
Tips:
1) One of Seijo Ishii’s most popular products is its premium cheesecake
2) Mont Blanc Butter Cake with chestnuts is another must-try item of Seijo Ishii
Source: CNA
