Yoshinoya incurred a net loss of 7.5 billion yen in a year, with over a hundred stores closing; this century-old company has been devastated by the pandemic

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Recently, the Japanese fast-food chain Yoshinoya released its financial results for 2020, showing that the company incurred a net loss of 7.5 billion yen that year. The main reason for the loss was a significant drop in turnover due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Yoshinoya has over 1,000 overseas stores worldwide, with more than 60% of them located in China. It is understood that Yoshinoya, founded in 1899, announced last year that it would close 150 of its stores worldwide by February 2021 in an effort to reduce costs, and plans to introduce a dedicated takeaway service in Japan. In response, Yoshinoya stated that the reason for closing the stores was to cut losses in certain stores affected by the pandemic. It is reported that behind China’s Yoshinoya stores, there are two operating entities: one is the Japanese Yoshinoya, and the other is **the listed company Hexing Group. HeXing Group operates Yoshinoya in northern China through a long-term franchise agreement with Yoshinoya Japan. A responsible official from Hexing Group, the domestic franchisee of Yoshinoya, said that the closure plan does not apply to the Yoshinoya stores operated by Hexing Group; all operations are proceeding normally at present, and new stores are still being opened in the Beijing area.