Delivering Replica Menu Items from Restaurants Famous Across Japan or Now Defunct
Fully Fledged Launch of New Company mitaseru, Providing Service for Ordering Carefully Selected Gourmet Foods
-Aiming for 100 participating restaurants by 2026 and ¥5 billion in business by 2030-

June 25、2024

Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.
mitaseru JAPAN Co., Ltd

Tokyo, Japan, June 25, 2024 – Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., a leading global real estate company headquartered in Tokyo, announced today that it has decided on the full-fledged commercialization of mitaseru, a service that delivers carefully selected gourmet foods in collaboration with Japan’s famous restaurants, and that this service will be run by mitaseru JAPAN Co., Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo.

mitaseru Japan is in a new business domain, the third path of the Group’s long-term management policy, & INNOVATION 2030, and will work to create a new industry for Japan’s world-class restaurant industry. Along with domestic sales, international sales will be made possible with the aim of a business scale of ¥5.0 billion by 2030. The company will also contribute to passing down Japan’s culinary culture.

Key points of this release

  • mitaseru JAPAN is being established to further ramp up the gourmet food platform mitaseru, which came out of the business proposal program MAG!C. The goal is a business scale of ¥5.0 billion by 2030.
  • In the restaurant industry, which faces the major societal problem of a lack of workers, the Delicious Inheritance Project*1 is being expanded to protect the flavors of restaurants that have had to shut their doors and to contribute to the passing down of Japan’s culinary culture.
  • Menu items from four restaurants have been newly added to the roster, which now includes a total of 34 restaurants and 67 dishes. The company is aiming for 100 restaurants participating by 2026.
  • Collaborations utilizing Mitsui Fudosan Group synergies are also accelerating. A new manufacturing site has been established at the MFLP Funabashi logistics facility, as the company collaborates with &mog*2, a food platform business originating in the Nihonbashi Revitalization Project.

■Environment surrounding Japan’s restaurant industry

Around one year has passed since the full-fledged launch of the service and although the service received many positive reviews by participating restaurants, many restaurants have had to contract operations or close up completely due to issues such as a shortage of workers, and this societal problem the industry faces is growing more severe. The number of failed restaurants reached a record high in 2023 (*3).　 *3: According to a survey by Teikoku Databank.

mitaseru has a unique business model of running side by side with restaurants. Dedicated chefs prepare the menus of the restaurants by hand according to the recipe, and the company handles everything from procuring the specified ingredients to making the dishes and selling them. This is all undertaken in an integrated manner. Even amid such a severe environment, it creates a new format for restaurant owners and contributes to solving issues in the restaurant industry.

■Added four new, rigorously selected restaurants to the lineup for a total of 34 restaurants and 67 dishes

Restaurants participating in mitaseru including restaurants known to those in the know, restaurants where it can be difficult to get a reservation, Michelin-starred restaurants, and famous restaurants that no longer exist, the company is aiming for a restaurant lineup filled with variety that has been rigorously selected by the Mitsui Fudosan Group.

Replica menu items through the Delicious Inheritance Project, which safeguards restaurant flavors, a famous motsunabe restaurant in Hakata, a Kobe restaurant famous to those in the know; a total of four restaurants were added. The Delicious Inheritance Project is planning to expand going forward and will recruit replica restaurants.

2nd phase of Delicious Inheritance Project, which safeguards restaurant flavors

Rinsuzu Shokudo – replica lemon ramen ¥1,782 (with tax)　

This famous ramen restaurant in a downtown location was forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to close its doors. Previously, around 70% of its customers ordered its popular specialty Lemon Ramen.
It had been featured in many media outlets and many celebrities were among its fans. The combination of soba soup, loved to no end by Japanese people, and ramen soup was a wholly unique combination, then adding lemon created the perfect combination, so it was gentle on the body—female regulars called it “guilt-free ramen.”

Hakata and Kobe restaurants added to the lineup, a first for mitaseru

Hakata Motsunabe Yamanaka: Motsunabe Set, Miso Flavor (1.5 to 2 people) ¥3,996 (with tax)　

Hakata Motsunabe Yamanaka is a popular motsunabe restaurant that is top class in Japan. mitaseru sells an original menu item that adds vegetables to motsu & soup in a set that allows Yamanaka’s motsunabe to be enjoyed easily at home.

Osteria Buco Bolognese’s Bolognese with Porcini Mushrooms ¥1,922 (with tax)

Bolognese specialty restaurant in Kitano, Kobe known as a place for Northern Italy regional cuisine. This luxurious dish condenses that flavor of beef shoulder loin that has been gradually roasted.
Generally, Bolognese conveys an image of using a minced meat sauce to make the sauce, but Buco’s Bolognese uses a chunk of beef that is gradually roasted together with flavored vegetables to create the ragu sauce. To arrive at this sauce took two years.

che bontà
Straight from Kobe—three types of natural gelato made in the authentic Italian style From ¥850 (with tax)

“We wanted to create authentic gelato that could be safely delivered to your mouth.” With this thought in mind, this additive-free gelato specialty shop opened in Kobe in 2022.
Bologna boasts the highest level of gelato in all of Italy, and 80% of the gelato made in this city is made with a Cattabriga gelato machine. Carefully selected ingredients without use of flavorings or colorants and a manufacturing process that gives consideration to people with allergies, plus the gelato is made with the know-how of a craftsperson who trained in Italy.

■New initiatives drawing on the synergies of the Mitsui Fudosan Group

With focus not only on societal issues in the restaurant industry but also on creating efficient supply chains and passing down culinary culture, various initiatives will be accelerated that utilize the assets of the Mitsui Fudosan Group.

  1. Building a new product manufacturing site (scheduled to open in fall 2025) on the premises of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics Park Funabashi (MFLP Funabashi)
    Aiming to strengthen the product manufacturing system, a new manufacturing site will be built within MFLP Funabashi, a logistics facility developed by Mitsui Fudosan. It is scheduled to begin operations in fall 2025. By building an original end-to-end integrated supply chain from product manufacture to delivery, mitaseru will be able to deliver products faster to customers in the Tokyo metro area, where a large number of mitaseru’s customers live. And, the company plans to establish product vending machines for employees of MFLP Funabashi and local residents.
    In the Minami-Funabashi Station area is found Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Tokyo-Bay, one of the nation’s largest commercial complexes operated by the Mitsui Fudosan Group, Vivit Minami-Funabashi, the large, multi-purpose arena LaLa arena TOKYO-BAY, and condominium housing development projects, so collaboration with nearby facilities will help energize the overall area.

  2. Communicating Japan’s food industry and culinary culture created together with &mog
    &mog by Mitsui Fudosan, a “Focus on Tomorrow’s Innovative Industries” set forth in Stage 3 of the Nihonbashi Revitalization Plan, and mitaseru will collaborate with a view to communicating Japan’s food industry and culinary culture to the world, which is the vision they share.

    1． Nihonbashi as an area for strengthening mitaseru-participating restaurants
    Nihonbashi, the area where Mitsu Fudosan was founded, has many long-established restaurants that have passed down both flavors and techniques for many years. mitaseru has also positioned Nihonbashi as an area for strengthening participating restaurants, and it will work to further expand participants while communicating the appeal of Nihonbashi centered on food.

    2． &mog collaboration phase 1: Developing new products using Sea Vegetable’s seaweed and support for carrying on culinary culture
    Nihonbashi area restaurants participating in mitaseru will develop collaborative products using seaweed handled by Sea Vegetable Company, an &mog partner company, and plan to launch sales of the products in fall 2024. Through product sales, a new culinary experience of seaweed will be delivered and the goal of passing down culinary culture aimed for by the company will be supported by mitaseru as well.

    < About &mog by Mitsui Fudosan >

    The &mog platform facilitates food business development by providing settings and communities in a manner that strikes a balance between hard solutions in the form of an urban location in the area encompassing the Nihonbashi and Yaesu districts, and soft solutions in the form of coordination with its partners. Its aim is to help solve the many societal issues facing the food industry, such as labor shortages and food loss.

    < About Sea Vegetable Ltd. *4 >

    With the concept of “Seaweed for a healthy ocean and people,” the company established an on-land cultivation method using underground seawater, a world-first. It was selected for the Culture-Preneurs 30 by FORBES Japan magazine for running a new business that upgrades tradition.
    *Refer to the company information on the website (https://seaveges.com/)

    < mitaseru Nihonbashi restaurants planning to participate in collaborative products with Sea Vegetable >

■About mitaseru JAPAN Co., Ltd.

Japan’s restaurant business is an industry that draws rave reviews both at home and abroad, but the location and number of customers restrict sales and the background of a worker shortage are structurally intertwined so that scalability has been pointed to as an industry issue. Against these circumstances, the dreams of chefs to deliver their dishes throughout the world and the desire of customers to grace their dining room tables with delicious food even while busy and with only a little extra effort are both realized through this service.

To deliver the flavors of famous restaurants prepared with techniques honed by the chef to even more people. To provide delicious food to more people, more easily for it to be enjoyed safely.
The dreams of chefs working at famous restaurants and the desire of customers—joining these two together gives rise to mitaseru, a gourmet food platform that is rigorously selected and that manufactures frozen dishes made by hand that recreate to the full extent possible the flavors presented at the restaurants.
The aim is to inherit the techniques of top chefs and make Japan’s restaurant industry the envy of the world by scaling up human, physical, and economic resources, which are limited with restaurants.
The pentagon symbol used as the logo is at once a serving platter for carrying delicious food and a radar chart that satisfies the five senses.
Gourmet meals are prepared with special effort for the sake of customers and symbolize the culture of hospitality that characterizes Japan.
We make meals with diligence together with the restaurants and hope that many people throughout the world have the opportunity to enjoy them.

< VISION >
Satisfy the world with gourmet quality.
< MISSION >
To deliver gourmet meals made with the techniques of chefs to all people who enjoy good food.
< VALUE >
To go beyond the restaurant to deliver gourmet food to as many people as possible, so that anyone may experience great food, anywhere, anytime.

Company profile

Company name mitaseru JAPAN Co., Ltd.
Location 3-2-1 Nihonbashi-Muramachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Establishment April 3, 2024
Business Description Sale of processed food
Main shareholders Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.
Capital ¥45.00 million
Representative Director Daiki Matsumoto

■mitaseru service overview

mitaseru is a rigorously selected gourmet meal service that delivers cuisine from specially selected famous restaurants anywhere, anytime. Unlike normal supervised menu items, ordered products are developed with the restaurants to have the same quality as the food actually served at them. In a dedicated kitchen, an expert chef prepares the meals by hand while sticking to the same recipe and ingredients as the restaurant. After the food is prepared its freshness is preserved as it is by using the latest quick-freeze technologies. No preservatives are used. Sales outlets and product information as well as new product information and benefits are introduced on mitaseru’s official Instagram and LINE accounts. Please follow or friend us.

mitaseru online store：https://mitaseru.com/
Official Instagram account：https://www.instagram.com/mitaseru_official/
Official LINE account：https://lin.ee/xZKCWiD

■About the MAG!C business proposal program of the Mitsu Fudosan Group

Created in fiscal 2018 as the Mitsui Fudosan Group’s business proposal system, the purpose of the system is to transform the Group into an industry developer; a platformer that harnesses innovation to go beyond the scope of a real estate developer. This innovation begins with the ideas of Group employee and brings together other members of the company to shape those ideas into plans and make them a reality . In principle, those who propose a business are given responsibility for it and take the lead in moving the proposed business forward. mitaseru is a business that came out of the MAG!C program.

■Sustainability in the Mitsui Fudosan Group

Based on the meaning of its “& mark,” “to generate new value with society through cooperation, coexistence and co-creation, we forge ahead, innovating,” the Mitsui Fudosan Group views the “creation of social value” and the “creation of economic value” as two wheels of a cart. Accordingly, we believe that the creation of social value leads to the creation of economic value, and that this economic value then creates even greater social value.
Moreover, we identified six Group Materiality priority issues when formulating our new management philosophy in April 2024. These Group Materiality priority issues are (1) Contribute to industrial competitiveness, (2) Coexist with the environment, (3) Health and Vitality, (4) Safety and security, (5) Diversity and inclusion, and (6) Compliance and governance. The Mitsui Fudosan Group will work to address each of the materialities through its core business activities and contribute to the promotion of sustainability.

(References)
・ Group Management Philosophy and Long-Term Vision
https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/english/corporate/innovation2030/
・ Group Materiality
https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/english/esg_csr/approach/materiality/

* The initiatives outlined in this release are designed to help address the following four Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).