Specialty food stores & 4 reasons why they succeed!

As I wrestle my way through the small busy lanes which make up Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji Market and trek along the historical districts of Takayama, I realized one thing about the food businesses in Japan; They don’t try to ‘do-it-all’ instead they have mastered the art of specializing in a single product or a single concept.

A beef offal stew specialty store at Tsukiji Market

Two specialty stores really caught my eye; the first one was the exceedingly popular Inoue Ramen at Tsukiji Market, they served up the most affordable ramen noodles with heaps of fresh spring onions, bamboo shoots and a generous 4 slices of rolled pork!  The second speciality store was a little more obscure; Tucked away around a view-restricted corner in the small town of Takayama was a little kiosk selling Hida beef stew and grilled Hida beef tongue, for the uninitiated, Hida beef is right up there with Waygu and Kobe beef, but in my opinion is a little more artisanal because it’s a lot less commercialized.

Hida beef specialty store in Takayama

So I started thinking, what makes these speciality F&B businesses so successful and why is it so rampant in Japan?? Here are my 4 reasons.

1. Reduces customer risks and affects their decision process
   A specialty store greatly reduces the customers risk, he/she knows that the product being sold there is most probably a good one (also justifies why there’s a massive line outside each store at any one time) . So becoming a specialty store immediately transforms the staff in the business into experts in the field… and everyone trusts experts don’t they?
2. It’s easier to market and plan processes for just one product
   Planning the production process and inventory for a restaurant with multiple concepts can become a nightmare. Specialty stores have the advantage in managing inventory and managing expectations of supply and demand, less time consuming and less to do. It is also easier to focus on optimizing processes and marketing a specialty concept. 
3. Training procedures are lessened and less skilled workers are required
   The very nature of a specialized product means that production processes are also specialized and can be easily managed and replicated, this means less training requirement for new staff and a lower requirement for skilled workers, thus, reducing staff costs.
4. The Japanese have intense pride in their products
   The Japanese are so fervently proud of their product, from the way they choose raw materials to the handling of the final product. Their care for every production process can be felt in the final product and their level of skill which goes into the product resonates into the consumer. Adding value and providing the customer a sense of euphoria (to an extent).

Inoue Ramen store at Tsukiji Market

So should more and more business specialize instead of diversifying their skillsets into multiple concepts? I think so, I have always been a strong believer in specializing in a certain skillset and only expanding into other peripheral skills, it just makes business sense.

What do you think?