Gyus and Dons

Yoshinoya's Empire

Japanese beef has a vaunted history and tradition. From the generic “wagyu” that gets graded to A5 to the regional specialists as described below such as Matsusaka and Kobe, beef is big business.

Matsusaka Beef: The Hidden Steak

This is the high end stuff. Today we won’t be looking at that. Welcome to the other end of the spectrum. Gyudon chains. Of course this all leads back to Yoshinoya.

Moooooo-ji Restoration

Lets take a step back. Back when gyudon wasn’t even a thing. For this, we are going back not just one century but two. Actually we need to go all the way back to the 6th Century.

This was an age where Buddhism landed on the shores of Japan and meant meat consumption was less than popular. The art of preparing and subsequently enjoying pork and beef were met with a frosty silence if you were lucky. If unlucky, well this consumption was banned by law so harsh punishments were issued.

It took literal ages. Specifically the age of the Meiji Restoration until beef too was restored on the Japanese dining table. Of course this period was the time of great social and cultural upheaval, where Western norms and sensibilities were brought in rapidly. Meat was back and so too was the humble cow.

With the start of Meiji in 1868, it didn’t take long for people to start cooking. Both literally and metaphorically. The opening up of Japan meant that cows suddenly became very available, and reasonably priced given the amount of food packed in a cow. Yet almost simultaneously, people realised that the cattle they had was kind of bad to eat. It turns out without decades of careful cultivation, the quality of meat was borderline inedible.

So Japan’s 1800’s chefs did what any cook would do. If you have the meat you must eat. Try to dress the meat up. They soon landed on a mix of onion, soy sauce. This seemed to help tenderise the incredibly tough texture and hide the otherwise inedible foul smell.

Off to a good start.

They had created the very first iteration of gyudon. Thinly cut beef (usually from less valued cuts) on rice. Fittingly Gyudon when broken into its component words, Gyu and Don, just means beef on rice. The formula was as simple as it was effective.

By 1899 the very first of the Japanese Gyudon mega-chains was founded. Yes, the glowing orange signed superstore that is somehow always open. Of course it started in Tokyo. In a move surely designed to offend, this vaunted beef giant was started in the Nihonbashi fish market.

The idea was that the fishmongers wanted something quick and easy. And not fish. So, a filling bowl of rice, covered with beef must have been like how coffee is for the modern workers. Just a quick pick me up that allowed them to continue their constant work grind.

This simple formula of cheap, quick and tasty was not just a passing fad. It became the motto of Yoshinoya, promising "Tasty, low-priced, and quick". Which really should be the motto of all fast food chains. This guiding principle has kept Yoshinoya as a leader in the fast food world now over a century.

It turned out that Japanese workers often found comfort in the almost instant belly filler that is a late night Gyudon. If Nihonbashi fish market marked the start of the Yoshinoya experience, it took a natural disaster for it to flourish. Even as Japan was allowed to eat beef in the early 1900s and 1910s, the fact that it was cheap and poor quality meant that most people who could choose what food was available, i.e. not forced by exhaustion and hunger to get a cheap and easy meal, would opt for something else.

Let me be clear. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 was a net negative for Japan, especially Kanto. Firstly, the Earthquake did not go around preaching how tasty Gyudon was to upper crust Japanese citizens. Instead, the Earthquake meant that everyone (in Kanto), was now forced into this predicament of not having lots of choice when eating. It was a moment where the rich were forced to declare “let us eat beef”.

So the Great Earthquake was a thorny topic for Yoshinoya and their founder. On the one hand, total and utter devastation of the region including his original Nihonbashi shop. On the other, well now everyone wanted Gyudon.

Gyu looking at me?

The Gyudon boom lasted well past the 1920s. Now that people had a taste for what low quality beef can taste like, they couldn’t get enough. The economic model of Yoshinoya also perfectly matched post war era Japan.

All about volume. Remember, Tasty, low-priced, and quick.

Urbanisation in the 1950s and 60s created a the ideal consumer of the gyudon and it was a larger section of the populace than Nihonbashi fishmonger. Welcome to the office, salaryman. Imagine, or experience the life of cramped apartments, long commutes, necessitating short meal times.

Unlike more traditional cuisines of Japan, think sushi and ramen, gyūdon required no culinary finesse. It was a very simple process.

Step 1. Boil beef in sweet-soybroth that is provided by Yoshinoya (or other Gyudon provider)

Step 2: Pour over rice

Step 3: Serve.

This standardisation meant for very easy franchising and expansion, long before the other foreign fast fooders. In fact they were the foreign fast fooders.

YoshinUSA

1975 saw Yoshinoya open in the United States, first in Denver, and later in Los Angeles. This was the period when they began relying on American beef due to cost and quality, so they thought what better than to sell US beef to US people. The brand's overseas success was not immediate.

The business was way too top-heavy. Meaning they invested lots upfront and didn’t really have any loyal customers. The company was building restaurants quickly but just wanted the generic customer profile of a big eating American. Operational costs soared. Meanwhile in Japan, the headquarters were scrambling but could affect much change from an ocean away.

Well they had one thing they could do.

Bankruptcy.

Within 5 years, the emergency brake was pulled. Poor performing stores shut down. This could have been the end of Yoshinoya abroad. They could have looked at Gyudon and thought… beef on rice isn’t doing it for the non-Japanese. That would have been an easy if expensive lesson. After all even in Japan, beef on rice took a generational earthquake for the country to embrace.

Instead they took some lessons from their own post earthquake domestic success. They looked at their customers. Overworked people who needed a cheap, quick, and tasty meal. This wasn’t going to be everyone in America of the 1980s. Yoshinoya looked for immigrants. Their new strategy was for Latino and Asian immigrants, who often had those long hours where they just needed a bowl of sustenance.

Soon they became another staple of blue collar America. They have been able to grow to over a hundred stores in USA. They introduced non beef bowls to wild success, including their teriyaki chicken.

It turns out that cheap meat on rice was a winning strategy. Yoshinoya just needed to look at their own history.

Step 1: Find that customer who, like the century old Nihonbashi fishmonger or the devasted Kanto resident, is desperate enough to try the gyudon.

Step 2: Let the tasty flavour and low cost bowls keep them coming back for more.

Now, Yoshinoya is the unparalleled Don of beef bowls. They have expanded far beyond Japan, or even the USA. Everywhere they go, the mantra of "Tasty, low-priced, and quick" echoes through.

Yet, if you are familiar with Japan’s Gyudon scene, you may know that Yoshinoya is not even the king of Gyudon back home.

Tune in below to hear about the Battle of the Beef Bowls.

Battle of the Beef Bowls