Revolutionary shift to a consumer-led style of eating out

Every company has its customers, and Gurunavi's customers are internet users-both consumers and restaurants. We have brought a revolution to both of these groups, a shift to a new style of eating out based on restaurant choices made by consumers. In the past, the usual way to search for a restaurant was to rely on magazines or word of mouth. Now, however, it has become standard for people of all ages and professions to search online for restaurants using Gurunavi.
As well as our consumer customers, we also promoted the concept of new internet-based marketing to our other group of customers, the restaurants. Before Gurunavi, most small and medium-sized restaurants-which vastly outnumber the large-scale chain restaurants- did not even consider the concept of marketing. Behind our overwhelming popularity with consumers are the powerful marketing tools we provide to restaurants, which are inexpensive, cost efficient, and contribute substantially to turnover. This focus on promotion in our approach to restaurants has enabled us to build a high value-added business model.

Leveraging IT to bring continuous improvement to the restaurant sector

With an estimated value of approximately 25 trillion yen, the food service industry is larger than the automotive industry. Some 400,000 businesses populate the sector, many of them operating on thin margins.

Gurunavi helps these businesses to improve their operations, not just through marketing, but also through the application of IT. Restaurants that have adopted IT are able to reduce their ongoing costs using the IT solutions that we provide.

The food service sector as a whole has had a relatively low profile until recently, but it is now steadily gaining visibility thanks to the online network of small restaurants that Gurunavi has created. By further expanding this network, we will continue to help individual restaurants strengthen their presence.

Seiichiro Kubo
President
March, 2009