Coffee shops struggling for survival

Posted by Dave and Dennis on September 15th, 2005 at 10:53pm

By Yuko Komori

TOKYO — With continuing decreases in coffee shops under private management and sharp increases in self-service chain shops, private coffee shops in Tokyo and Osaka are struggling for survival by offering their own particular lineups of coffee.

According to figures from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, there were 150,000 coffee shops across the country in the first half of the 1980s, but that number had dropped to some 84,000 last year.

In the Tokyo metropolitan area, the number decreased from about 18,000 to some 8,000 while in Osaka Prefecture it dropped from about 23,000 to some 13,000.

Cafe Sucre in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward roasts coffee beans every morning and always prepares more than 20 kinds of coffee, including its own blended one.

When its owner, Yuko Nirei, 37, opened the shop last year, she thought there would be no need for food.

“We would like customers to smell the aroma of coffee when they enter the shop. Offering cheap coffee for profit will not last long. With genuine taste and technique, we will not be defeated by chain shops,” she said.

Towa Food Service Co, which runs four Tsubakiya coffee shops in Ginza and three other Tokyo areas, keeps the space between tables large.

A cup of coffee is quite expensive at 840 yen, but an official said, “We are trying to create a space where customers can leisurely spend an hour.”

Kiyoshi Ogawa, 48, the third-generation manager of Hiraoka Coffee Shop in Osaka’s Chuo Ward, opened in 1921, put together a bean-roasting manual over a period of 10 years by looking at his father’s work. “Customers tell us they want to drink our coffee,” he said.

“Osaka people are particular about taste. Coffee that is not tasty is not good even if it is cheap,” said Taro Nakamura, 72, president of MJB Coffee Co, also in Osaka’s Chuo Ward and established 60 years ago.

Two years ago, a chain coffee shop opened in the neighborhood. The MJB coffee shop temporarily lost 10% of its customers, but they soon returned, he said.

Kenji Nishinaka, 57, an executive of a local association of coffee shops and restaurants, said, “When baby boomers, who know real taste, get old, it is the turn of professionals.”

“Original, particular coffee which can be shared with customers.”

This is the key to survive in the winter period of coffee shops, said Kazuhiko Maeda, editor of the monthly magazine Cafe & Restaurant.

He said that in addition to house blends of coffee, homemade cakes and jam, and lunches made with vegetables directly purchased from farmers are getting popular through the grapevine.

Four Danwashitsu (lounge) Takizawa coffee shops in Tokyo ended their 39-year history this spring. They were said to be the forerunner of original coffee shops with spacious sofas, quiet background music and waitresses fully trained in dormitories.

President Jiro Takizawa said of why he closed the shops, “Women who were reluctant to enter dormitories increased. We could not satisfactorily train waitresses for better services to customers, and we could not charge higher coffee prices.” (Kyodo News)

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