Our strong relationships with overseas partners stem from this very approach. We didn't just go looking for people who wanted to run famous Japanese franchises abroad! We get plenty of inquiries like that through our website. What truly matters is discerning the profile of someone who can be a long-term overseas partner.
“Pursuit of Essence”
is our business philosophy.😁
Regarding Franchise Partners in France
☆The City of Flowers, Paris 😁
How many times have I visited since my student days...
I understand intellectually that traveling there and living there are completely different, but it's a city I'd love to live in at least once.
An inquiry about franchising came from that very city.
July 29, 2022
It was an inquiry about wanting to expand a certain Japanese cake shop in Paris.
Paris, the home of sweets. What kind of Japanese sweets could work there???
Amid the pandemic, when travel wasn't easy, we held several online meetings.
It was an Asian person who had lived in France for a long time.
Inquiries from overseas are always like this, often vague about the brand itself.
More than a specific brand, they usually offer ideas like, “We want to do a business like this.”
They've lived in that country for a long time and know its market.
We have a certain level of knowledge about their country, while possessing extensive expertise in Japanese business models.
After several meetings where various opinions were exchanged, it led to an inspection tour to Japan.
☆Inspection Tour
Despite the pandemic, they came all the way from Paris to Japan.
It was a 4-night inspection tour traversing Japan.
We met at Hiroshima Station on the Shinkansen.
Hiroshima → Osaka → Tokyo → Nagano
We visited over ten stores and the headquarters of their brand.
The couple who came had already acquired the master franchise rights for a certain Taiwanese tea brand in France and were expanding their business there.
From the first day, the husband didn't speak much. I thought he might be shy, but it turned out he had food poisoning after arriving in Japan. The tour started under difficult circumstances where he couldn't even sample much.
After arriving in Japan, we pooled our information: What kind of business model would succeed in Paris?
Was sweets really the best option? For them, already expanding Taiwanese tea, the desire for a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) offering light meals was real.
So, a model simple enough for amateurs to operate = cafe, sweets, made sense.
We deliberately included many business models we believed could succeed in Paris, based on our past experience.
That was ramen.
We had visited Paris multiple times ourselves, and our inspection tour was backed by concrete knowledge of which Japanese food concepts thrive there, giving it real persuasive power.
I think we visited seven ramen brands alone.
“This flavor already exists in Paris.”
“This is a truly innovative taste.”
It was a four-day tour filled with diverse opinions.
Inspection tours are an extremely valuable source of information for our company too.
They bring in a constant stream of real-time intelligence from the country.
This won't work, that might work.
That's interesting! This area is the best for opening a store!
And so on. Information about business models, locations, competing stores, and various other factors intersected, driving the project forward.
After the four-day tour ended, the email we received from them upon their return to France gave high praise to “Donabe Miso Ramen Takesan,” which we will be launching in Paris starting in 2024. This company has only one store in Nagano.
From inquiries about sweets, the brand we ended up launching is miso ramen 😁
We have had many such experiences.
Brands or business models that initially inquired with us without much prior knowledge end up launching completely different ventures.
Our company advocates being a “Business Design Firm,” not merely an intermediary.
“We want to launch this Japanese brand in our country—mediate for us!”
We receive many such inquiries. While we do accept such offers, the essence of our business lies elsewhere.
We bring our respective information together and discuss and refine what business model would be best to launch in each country.
The initial brand offer from our Indonesian franchise partner—which now operates over 20 stores and is our largest country-specific operation—was also for tempura rice bowls.
Specifically, they requested the “Tenya” brand 😁
We consulted headquarters, held meetings with our Indonesian partners, visited the local market multiple times for discussions, and ultimately they chose “Noko Tonkotsu Shoyu Ramen Bariuma.”
I still remember gathering all the Indonesian shareholders at their home（a huge mansion 😁）, bringing soup from Japan, and personally making both tonkotsu and chicken ramen for them😁
What I want to convey is the value of inspection tours.
Naturally, when you inquire with a franchise headquarters, they'll only introduce their own brands. We accept inquiries and brand offers, but we work together to identify, search for, and build the business model and brand that will succeed in that country.
Discussions between local candidate companies that know their country inside out and our company, which knows Japan, Japanese brands, and business models inside out, naturally scrutinize brands and increase the likelihood of success.
No other company in Japan has this capability.
I want them to utilize us much more effectively.
☆Why was Takesan Ramen, with only one store in Nagano, Japan, chosen?
Now, returning to the topic, let me briefly explain why they in France chose Takesan Ramen.
Japan boasts a long, diverse culinary culture and abundant ingredients.
Its unique, multifaceted food culture is a defining characteristic.
Few countries possess such an extraordinary variety of dishes.
This is a culture unique to Japan, shaped by its distinctive climate and natural environment.
What about France?
French cuisine is counted among the world's three great cuisines.
From the perspective of food culture, they too share a long history and culture similar to Japan's.
*Incidentally, the world's three great cuisines are French, Chinese, and Turkish cuisine; Japanese and Italian cuisines are not included...
Countries with a culture of food respect other countries and companies with a culture of food.
This is only natural.
If the target customers are French people, specifically Parisians, then naturally, the story and history become selling points.
Takesan commissioned a 245-year-old miso shop to make a miso sauce for ramen using their historic wooden barrels. The charming, historic location of Obuse in Nagano Prefecture was also appealing.
Culture cannot be easily bought with money.
Culture cannot be created overnight.
That is precisely why respect arises.
From the perspective that the French surely understand this, they chose Takesan Ramen, a brand known for its dedication to its product.
During their inspection tour, they visited many other ramen shops famous among Japanese people.
Yet, the one they chose was Takesan Ramen, which has only one location in Japan.
Chain stores don't suit France.
While McDonald's, Starbucks, and other US fast-food chains are now commonplace in Paris, coexisting with traditional French cafés, they were once deserted.
Those franchise companies weren't French either.
☆Finally Opening in Paris
The opening is set for May 2024, just before the Paris Olympics.
The husband personally participated in the store training in Nagano, Japan.
To build a brand that lasts long in a country, franchisees must have “love” for that brand.
Even if you expand to multiple stores, without that affection, the stores will gradually decline.
It becomes a case of “making the form but not the spirit.”
I've seen many such stores around the world.
The construction leading up to opening was tough.
The construction company they chose wasn't very good.
On opening day, the city gas? wasn't connected, so we had to go buy propane tanks and temporarily switch all the gas appliances to propane...
Unbelievable things were in impossible places during construction, causing delays in getting the country's opening permit and requiring rework...
Looking back now, it's a “memory,” but at the time, it was seriously “heavy...”
The grand opening was delayed by a month.
There was also an irregularity where Takesan, the Japanese owner, had to come back to France a second time a month later, but we managed to open successfully.
It will soon be two years since opening in 2024, and thanks to everyone, sales have been steady. This time, we've finalized the lease for a second location in Paris's 4th arrondissement.
Additionally, a franchise agreement and location have been secured for a new Japanese food concept being developed by this company.
It looks like we'll be opening two new concepts simultaneously around May 2026 😁
I intend to continue supporting them wholeheartedly.
PS
If you're interested in Japanese franchise brands, please feel free to contact our company.
Let's discuss various options and find the best concept to launch in your country!!
Assentia Holdings, Inc
CEO Akira
