With a population of around 100 million, Vietnam is a lucrative market for Japanese companies. With an average age of just 31, Vietnam is also a very young nation with steady economic growth. Furthermore, Vietnam and Japan have friendly relations, thus it is anticipated that the popularity and dissemination of Japanese cuisine will increase in the Vietnamese market.
CJF views the Japanese food industry as an important area for investment and has made a number of them in Asia to establish a cold chain for Japanese ingredients and increase the availability of Japanese sake.
By making the investment in the pizza restaurant chain 4P's, CJF hopes to promote Japanese food culture and help Japanese ingredient producers and breweries expand internationally, particularly in Vietnam. By assisting in the management of environmentally friendly restaurants, this investment also focuses on Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance to contribute to the promotion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Asia.
In Vietnam and Cambodia, 4P's currently runs 28 eateries serving Japanese-Italian fusion cuisine. Customers highly praise the restaurant chain, which is based on the concept of "Earth-to-People" and its insistence on using healthy and organic ingredients, as well as its attentive Japanese-style customer service with "Omotenashi" as a core value. Customers in the neighbourhood know the eateries as Japanese pizza places because they use Japanese ingredients like scallops and matcha.
Additionally, 4P's has two central kitchens, a cheese factory, and a retail product business where it sells in-house cheese and frozen food products to upscale restaurants, hotels, high-end supermarkets, and online retailers.
SDGs are important to 4P's, and the company has released a sustainability report summarising the steps it has taken to address them. These include sourcing sustainable ingredients, effectively using the byproduct of cheese production called whey, actively recycling waste, and taking into account diversity and the job satisfaction of its employees.
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