Recycled-food scandal trashes chain's reputation, leads to closure

Nation's Restaurant News,  June 16, 2008  by Elissa Elan

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OSAKA, JAPAN -- Talk about the law of diminishing returns.

Senba Kitcho, a once-renowned restaurant chain based here, recently learned that lesson the hard way when its corner-cutting method of serving recycled food cost the chain its business--literally.

The recent revelation that the 78-year-old chain regularly served items untouched on the plates of previous customers to others caused a steep decline in reservations and sales that ultimately forced the operator to close up shop, according to the Associated Press.

The chain's president, Sachiko Yuki, said, "Since the repeated use of foods came to light, the number of reservations has decreased to about a half or one-third of what it used to be."

In a press conference announcing the company was halting business, Yuki apologized for "betraying the public's trust for food security and safety," when it served such recycled food items as grilled sweetfish, radish slices, abalone, fruit jelly and rolled sushi wrapped with bamboo leaf.

The scandal-burned chain was previously accused of selling expired sweets and beef that was falsely labeled as coming from a premier dairy region.

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