Hyakunousha International Limited opens new food factory to cope with hana-musubi expansion
Hyakunousha International Limited announced today (19 June 2018) that it has relocated to a bigger food factory in Tsuen Wan, looking to employ about 100 additional staff to cope with its plan to expand the hana-musubi chain within three years..
From left: Dr. Jimmy CHIANG, Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion, Invest Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr. Koji INOUE, Director General of Food Industry Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan, Mr. Muneo NISHIDA, Managing Director of Hyakunousha International Limited, Mr. Kuninori MATSUDA, Ambassador and Consul-General, Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong and Mr. Ken NISHIMURA, CEO and President of ANA Trading Company Limited at the opening ceremony of the food factory.
The new food factory is the biggest expansion move by Hyakunousha International Limited, which first landed in Hong Kong in 2011 with its first hana-musubi (omusubi or rice ball) shop opened in Kwai Chung. Within the past eight years, the group has expanded the chain into a network of 36 shops including two TEN-MUSUBI and 34-hana-musubi spanning across Hong Kong.
Managing Director, Mr Muneo Nishida said the group aims to expand the chain into 200 shops at major shopping malls, commercial districts, large scale housing estates and near schools. To cope with the fast expansion, the group relocated the food factory to a bigger premises on Yeung Uk Road, Tsuen Wan in June, which fetches over 50 000 sq ft with offices and a Japanese rice culture education centre, to boost production capacity.
Mr Nishida said that the group puts quality first, insisting to use premium Japanese rice to make hana-musubi along with other fresh Japanese ingredients, to meet Hong Kongers’ aspiration for healthy eating. The whole production process is carried out in-house to ensure quality standard.
He added that the food factory now has 50 staff working and within three years the recruitment exercise for the new food factory is expected to be complete. He continued that the group also needed to recruit new staff to manage the new retail shops being planned, but the actual number of new recruits for the shop operations has yet to be decided.
Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion Dr Jimmy Chiang said, “I am very excited to see Hyakunousha International Limited expanding in such fast pace, which fully demonstrates the status of Hong Kong as an international business city. Under the free market mechanism, foreign investors with good marketing idea or product will certainly break ground and be successful like the hana-musubi brand.”
Mr Nishida said, “Hong Kong is a metropolitan city. People here love Japanese food. They like it convenient and as far as quality is concerned they want it second to none. We saw this market niche, so we took our bold first step in 2011 to open the first shop. The path that followed the first shop was pretty easy, and with a lot of blessings we are taking this big step forward today in expanding our production line in such scale.”
He added, “It is our humble wish to promote Japanese agricultural culture, and we are hoping our hana-musubi can warm the hearts of people. We will continue to strive for the best quality of food and services for our customers in order to win their support.”
About Hyakunousha International Limited
Hyakunousha International Limited was established in 2010 in Hong Kong by Mr Muneo Nishida. The group currently has 34 hana-musubi and two TEN-MUSUBI shops in Hong Kong. The hana-musubi brand is wholly owned by Hyakunousha International Limited. The company uses premium Japanese rice to make hana-musubi and has very stringent control over the production process, in order to ensure food quality and maintain customer confidence. For more information, please visit www.h-musubi.com.
About Invest Hong Kong
Invest Hong Kong is the department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government tasked to attract foreign direct investment and support overseas and Mainland businesses to set up or expand in Hong Kong. It provides free advice and customised services for overseas and Mainland companies. For more information, please visit www.investhk.gov.hk.
For an event photo, please visit https://www.flickr.com/photos/investhk/albums/72157694983746432
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