Scandal forces swanky Japanese restaurant to shut
TOKYO (AFP) — An exclusive Japanese restaurant chain said Wednesday it would close down after it was found to have served leftover food in a scandal that led to a slump in business.
"We sincerely apologise for having betrayed the public trust in food safety and security," Sachiko Yuki, the tearful president of the 78-year-old Osaka-based restaurant chain Senba Kitcho K.K., said with a deep bow.
The 71-year-old daughter of the group's founder acknowledged that serving leftover food was an "unsuitable act by people engaged in the food business."
"We have decided to discontinue our business with a broken heart as of today because it has become difficult to go on under the name of Kitcho," she told a news conference in western Osaka. "Kitcho" means "lucky sign" in Japanese.
It was discovered earlier this month that Senba Kitcho had served such Japanese delicacies as grilled sweetfish and radish slices left untouched by previous customers.
Yuki said the restaurant had also recycled other food items such as abalone, fruit jelly and rolled sushi wrapped with bamboo leaf.
"Since the repeated use of foods came to light on May 2, the number of reservations by our customers has decreased to about a half or one-third of what it used to be," the president said.
The company had already been hit by other scandals.
In October, police raided Senba Kitcho's facilities after it was found that the company had sold expired sweets and also served beef which was falsely labelled as that from a premier dairy region.
The company suspended operations at its four restaurants for two months and restarted in January after closing two of them and slashing the number of employees to about 70 from 184.
Japan saw a string of food scandals last year, with companies ranging from an elite confectioner to the Mister Donut chain and McDonald's admitting to selling products with expired ingredients.
