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Company Database


SKYLARK COMPANY LTD.

about this company

Vision/Mission

“Creating Richness with Value to Society” is our corporate philosophy. Our mission is to offer great-tasting food at affordable prices with good service in our clean restaurants to as many people as possible. We aspire to be a restaurant group where customers can comfortably spend quality time with their families and friends or by themselves, while having an experience that exceeds their expectations.

 

Business Description

The Skylark Group is the largest restaurant group in Japan and one of the largest table service restaurants globally.

We are the only table service restaurant chain that operates in all 47 prefectures in Japan. Our size allows us to leverage economies of scale in our marketing, supply chain and global procurement functions. As a result of our efficiencies, our company is able to provide quality food at affordable prices and still achieve attractive margins.

However, more important than our size is our commitment to operate in a very entrepreneurial manner. Our company is extremely agile, evidenced by our ability to introduce new products, develop new brands and maintain very strong connections within the communities we operate.

We currently manage over 3,000 restaurants across multiple brands in diverse categories including Japanese, Western, Italian and Chinese cuisines.

 

Background

A pioneer among Japan’s family restaurants, the Skylark Group opened its first restaurant in 1970. Based on the corporate philosophy of “Creating Richness with Value to Society” we have conducted various structural reforms to establish a management foundation that meets changing customer needs.

In 2008, Makoto Tani became President and CEO and instituted large-scale reforms of unprofitable businesses. The Skylark Group conducted two types of reform:
(1) profitability reforms, which consisted of closing unprofitable restaurants that had been opened in the rush to expand, selling off the growing number of money-losing businesses and reviving core brands by converting unprofitable brands; and
(2) organizational reforms, which consisted of changing from a brand-based business structure to organization by function.

As a result, our EBITDA margin was dramatically improved by 2012.

Enhancements to our management team, including the appointment of Ralph Alvarez as Executive Chairman in 2013, have been geared towards steadily carrying out new initiatives to increase sales and further strengthen our profit base.

In 2015, we achieved our highest ever profit in company history.

 

Products/Services

Our broad portfolio of restaurant brands enables us to offer different restaurant experiences that meet diverse customer needs. Optimization of over 3,000 real estate locations, by changing store brands in accordance with today’s demographic trends and customer needs, has produced excellent returns. Behind the scenes, this has allowed us to leverage our integrated supply chain system, back-end infrastructure and management talent, to best satisfy our customers.

 

Markets

Markets we operate in are Japan and Taiwan.

With restaurants in every prefecture of Japan, the Skylark Group’s brands enjoy a high level of recognition.

 

Industry

We are in the table service restaurant industry.

We are the world’s largest company-operated (directly-run) chain in the table service restaurant industry.

 

Location

Head office: Tokyo

Commissaries and factories: Sendai, Fujioka, Higashi-matsuyama, Shisui, Akishima, Sagamihara, Gifu, Nishinomiya Kita-kyushu and Maebashi.

 

Competitive Advantages

The Skylark Group is Japan’s largest operator of full-service casual dining chains, with approximately 3,000 restaurants serving approximately 400 million customers per year.

We are also one of the world’s leading operators of full-service dining chains by the number of restaurants we operate, with a well-varied portfolio of market-leading restaurant concepts, all supported by a single, vertically integrated platform of procurement, preparation and distribution.

We are able to benefit from a combination of economies of scale, operational flexibility backed by our multi-brand strategy and an integrated value chain. Moreover, our highly recognized brands and attractive store locations, both of which have been cultivated through our history of over 45 years in the full-service, casual dining restaurant business, continues to generate strong cash flows and future growth opportunities.

In recent years, we have also successfully blended our traditional strengths with new capabilities, especially in the area of data analytics and in adopting global best practices. This was driven by our management team comprised of both Skylark veterans and new executives with prior experience at leading global companies.

 

 

Financial Projection

Our 2016-2018 mid-term business plan aims to achieve annual sales growth of 2%-3%, annual adjusted EBITDA growth of 6%-10% and adjusted ROE of 15%-19%.

We also plan to continue to pay out dividends, targeting at a ratio of 40% of consolidated adjusted net income.

 

Management

Our management team consists of the Skylark Group veterans and experienced leaders with diverse backgrounds at global blue-chip companies.

 

Ralph Alvarez, Chairman
Former President & COO of McDonald’s, overseeing global operations.
Held executive positions at Burger King Corp. and Wendy's International.

 

Makoto Tani, CEO
Has worked for the Skylark Group for more than 35 years.
Outstanding track record of turning around non-performing businesses.

 

Atsushi Kitamura, CFO
Former Finance & Accounting Associate Director in finance department at P&G (Japan and United States).
Former Senior Managing Director and General Manager of the Management Division of TNT Express Worldwide (Japan) Inc.

 

Minoru Kanaya, Head of Corporate Support & Human Resources
Former Executive Officer at Nomura Principal Finance

 

Sumio Matsumoto, Head of Operations for “Family Restaurants” Brands & CEO of Skylark Restaurants Co., Ltd.
Former General Manager and Head of Store Operations of Bamiyan Company.
Head of Store Operations for all non-Gusto concepts.

 

Haruyoshi Sakita, Head of Operations for “Specialty Restaurants” Brands & CEO of Skylark Restaurants Co., Ltd. & CEO of Nilax Inc.
Former CEO of Tomato & Associates.

 

Nishad Alani, Head of Marketing Management at Starbucks Asia Pacific
Former Head of Retail Operations and Supply Chain.
Former Principal at A.T. Kearney Management Consulting.

 

Minoru Himeno, Head of Procurement
Former Head of Bamiyan Company.
Former CEO of Nilax Inc.

 

Toshiaki Aihara, Head of Production
Former General Manager of the Operations Division of Bamiyan Company
Former Representative of Gusto Company
Former General Manager of Menu Development Division
Former General Manager of Restaurant Development Division

 

Shigeto Kadowaki, Head of Restaurant Development, involved in planning, development and operation of outlet malls and commercial facilities at Mitsui Fudosan.
Former Executive Officer of Fast Retailing, involved in the global store development of UNIQLO.

 

Employees

Skylark Co., Ltd.
Full-time Employees: 4,395
Part-time staff: 81,108

 

Skylark Group

Full-time Employees: 5,821
Part-time staff: 95,460
(As of December 31, 2015)

 

Highlights

1962/4 – Founded “Kotobuki Shokuhin” which was later renamed Skylark Company

1970/7 – The first “Skylark” brand restaurant opened in Tokyo

1993/7 – The first “Gusto” brand restaurant opened in Tokyo

2006/7 – MBO by Nomura Principal Finance

2006/9 – De-listed from the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange

2008/8 – Tani Makoto appointed as CEO

2009/10 – Closed all “Skylark” brand restaurants

2011/11 – Bain Capital acquired 98.7% stake of the Skylark Group from Nomura PF

2012/3 – Sold 100% stake of Kozo-sushi

2012/4 – Bain Capital acquired the remaining stake of Skylark to own 100% stake

2014/10 – Re-listed on the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange

2016/1 – Became a holding company