Zensho's mass merchandising system (MMD) allows the company to fulfill its mission to "provide safe, delicious food to people around the world at affordable prices". The MMD system forms the foundation of Zensho's business and embodies this mission in day-to-day operations.
This unique system integrates the planning, design, and operation of everything from the procurement of raw ingredients to manufacturing, processing, logistics, and retail sales to deliever on Zensho's responsibility to provide the highest level of food safety and quality worldwide. It has been the driving force behind Zensho's growth ever since the beginning.
We conduct voluntary inspections in all processes to ensure food safety, so that we can continue to provide safe, delicious food. At Zensho, we believe that our mission is to provide safe, delicious food at affordable prices by rolling out the MMD system worldwide.
1. Procurement
Procuring safe, high-quality food ingredients from around the world.
Zensho has set its management priorities in this order: assuring safety, pursuing quality, and reducing cost. Based on this, we then pursue economies of scale by centralizing the entire Group's purchasing functions. We have successfully built a stable supply system by developing a procurement network that stretches around the entire world.
Zensho also sends staff to visit actual production sites to check ingredients themselves, in order to ensure full traceability. Our efforts also include offering technical cooperation and making capital investments.
Details of Voluntary Inspections in Procurement Processes
2. Manufacturing
Manufacturing and processing in our own plants to guarantee food safety and quality
A stable supply of fresh ingredients is prepared and processed at 29 Zensho Group plants across Japan. The plants practice just-in-time production based on daily sales forecasts and deliver the minimum amount as fresh as possible to our stores. This avoids surplus inventory and ensures that our customers can always enjoy the freshest food.
The integrated processing in our own plants also allows us to keep waste from food ingredients to a minimum and treat it efficiently. Moreover, it also promotes efficient utilization of resources, such as refining used cooking oil collected from stores and using it as boiler fuel in some plants.
Details on Voluntary Inspection in Manufacturing Process
3. Logistics
Speedily transporting safe, fresh food via a flexible supply network
Safe, fresh food is sent to restaurants, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from 33 distribution centers across Japan. Only the amounts needed are delivered to restaurants at four different temperature levels: frozen, refrigerated, room temperature, and ultra-low temperature. This ensures thorough control of quality and freshness.
Moreover, we shorten the distance between each store and our distribution centers by increasing the number of centers. This reduces fuel consumption as we make joint deliveries to group stores located in the same area.
Increasing the number of centers allows for flexible responses to secure routes more quickly than otherwise in times of emergency, supporting the lifeline of fresh food ingredients.
Details on Voluntary Inspection of Logistics Processes
4. Food Service
Totally committed to delivering safe, high-quality food
Zensho creates the design for each chain by itself, selecting all the details such as interior and exterior decoration, tableware such as gyudon bowls, as well as fixtures and fittings. The Zensho Group spares no effort to provide customers with sincere service and an enjoyable dining experience. For store operations, we pursue faster, more consistent service by simplifying and standardizing all operations. Moreover, we promote the use of reusable chopsticks throughout the Group in our efforts to address environmental issues.
We have established training that focuses on customer satisfaction so that individual employees have an awareness as professionals leading the Zensho Group and to enable them to consider the diverse perspective of customers when providing service.
Details on Voluntary Inspection in Stores
