ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter "ITOCHU") announced today that it had joined the Restaurant Opening Support Project (hereinafter "this Project") run by Campfire Inc., Redish Inc. and other companies for offering comprehensive support solutions for the opening of restaurants, including procurement of equipment, public relations and marketing and financial support.

Japan has the largest number of Michelin stars in the world. This is evidence that restaurants are one of the Japanese industries that enjoy the greatest international renown. However, the industry is currently facing very difficult circumstances associated with the pandemic. In addition, the restaurant industry has failed to accumulate and establish know-how in launching restaurants. That has resulted in poor productivity, poor profitability and a high rate of business failures.

This Project is a new initiative to provide one-stop support until the time of opening. Essentially, the launch of a restaurant entails burdensome preparations including the procurement of kitchen equipment, information infrastructure in the restaurant, payment systems, public relations and marketing and fund procurement. This Project assigns a dedicated advisor free of charge and offers the necessary support in collaboration with participating companies from different business sectors.
ITOCHU will provide those opening restaurants with financial and insurance services through its participation in this Project. Specifically, Money Communications Inc. and Gardia, Inc., which are ITOCHU Group companies, will provide salary prepayment, risk guarantee and other services. The salary prepayment service is expected to help employ more staff and improve their retention. The risk guarantee service reduces the risk of loss caused by cancellation of booking without notice from customers.

In the area of retail finance, ITOCHU has a broad business portfolio centering on Pocket Card Co., Ltd., an operator of a credit card business. It thus provides services to meet a range of personal financing needs. Through participation in this Project, ITOCHU will strengthen collaboration among financing-based operations and facilitate the creation of new value in the area of finance.

■Website of this Project : https://camp-fire.jp/kaigyou-support (Japanese)