Technology has enabled the “delivery” of frozen sushi, a specialty of Otaru in Hokkaido, not only to customers in Japan but throughout the world. In conventional freezing methods, the rice would harden and become dry upon defrosting the fish, thus adversely affecting taste and flavor. The company developed a device in-house that significantly accelerates the speed of freezing to five times that of the conventionally recognized quick-freezing speed of nitrogen freezers. At the same time, the company devised a unique, non-additive type of pretreatment applied to both the rice and fish, so as to successfully restore the same freshness at when the pieces of sushi were originally shaped.
Since this technology is widely applicable to other food items as well, it has already been commercialized for pork cutlets, Chinese noodles, Japanese soba noodles, and other various snack foods.
Foodreams Inc. http://www.foodreams.com/
Established in 1980 as Kairinmaru Beer, Ltd., this company was engaged in the main businesses of seafood processing and restaurant management, and also brewed their own local brand of beer (Kairinmaru Beer). Later, however, the bursting of the ‘bubble economy’ had a drastic effect on their business. To counter the threatening situation facing the company, they began developing frozen sushi based on a proposal made by Mr. Sawatari, and eventually commercialized this new product in 1999. Since then, their product has gained widespread popularity as “Sushi with Love from Otaru.” In 2005, the former company name of “Kairinmaru Beer, Ltd.” was changed to Foodreams Inc.
Simply freezing will not do. The strenuous efforts made here in the company’s research lab produced amazing “frozen food.”
The expression “frozen sushi” would generally give a negative rather than positive impression. However, just taking a nibble of “Sushi with Love from Otaru” will make you realize otherwise. The tuna or scallop will taste rich and natural. The salmon roe tastes fresh when savored in the mouth. Yet, it would be a different story if such seafood were frozen through a normal process.
“Even if you freeze shaped sushi in a nitrogen freezer at around -80°C, upon defrosting it, you will find that the rice comes apart dried, with moisture (fish juice) seeping from the fish. This is not good at all for sales. A number of companies have attempted to challenge this process only to fail.”
It was in the mid 1990’s when the company decided to start this business. Due to the recession caused by the bursting of the bubble economy, the management of the company’s restaurant business and seafood processing factory was becoming increasingly difficult, so they urgently needed to develop a new breakthrough product. Upon examining a number of possibilities, they zeroed in on frozen sushi.
“About 130 sushi bars are crammed into Otaru City, which is said to have Japan’s highest per capita ratio of sushi bars, but none of these sushi bars lacks for customers. That’s because customers come from far away to enjoy the sushi there. So, we thought if we could freeze the sushi of the Otaru brand by using the know-how we acquired through our seafood processing, we might be able to sell it throughout Japan.”
Although the team that worked on this project was firmly determined that this was the only way, it was not smooth sailing from a technical standpoint, as well as a financial one.
“We conducted the in-house development of a unique freezer, but it required millions of yen just to build a prototype. The lack of funding caused us to suspend and resume development repeatedly. Still, we couldn’t simply give up, so as soon as we had some extra budget, we would say, ‘Well, let’s try again’ (laughing). Since we couldn’t afford to hire professional researchers, the staff of our production department got together and focused on moving the study forward through trial and error.”
It took a total of four years to complete the necessary R&D, then another two years on commercialization. Finally, the sales of “Sushi with Love” began in 1999.
The frozen sushi project on which the company’s future rested did not initially gain much popularity during the first year. This was because the general perception of ‘frozen food not being tasty’ had permeated in the minds of consumers. “It was only when our frozen sushi was placed in a mail-order catalog that the product began receiving an avalanche of orders. Then the situation was suddenly reversed with production not being able to keep pace with the orders, and the mail-order company became upset with the sudden popularity of our product.”
The current production volume is 250,000 packages a month, but only 50,000 are actually shipped to domestic consumers through mail orders, co-op networks, restaurants, and other channels. The rest of shipment goes to overseas distribution in the West and elsewhere in the wake of the ongoing “sushi boom.” Success came from positive sales activities, by realizing that “Foreigners don’t have a negative impression about frozen food.”
In addition to the company’s proprietary system developed in-house with emphasis placed on freezing speed rather than temperature, they also developed a unique pretreatment technique designed to “restore the original freshness” upon defrosting. They devised a special way of cooking rice, and removed 10% of the water content in the fish beforehand. Such technology has been commercially applied to a wide range of food products. The crispy, deep-fried shrimps or pork cutlets, authentic Chinese dishes of minced pork and tofu, and other foods (to be heated or microwaved prior to serving) might give more surprise than sushi, thus likely to raise the question, “Is it really frozen food?”
What Mr. Sawatari, who successfully opened a new market with a breakthrough “freezing” technology, wants to do most now is “to offer the kind of food that makes people really healthy.” He is not interested in starting a highly sophisticated “health food products” business. He envisions the traditional Japanese “homemade cooking” of grilled fish, boiled cooked dishes, pickles, and other favorites. By making full use of the company’s freezing technology, such ultimate health food can be easily enjoyed by anyone. They are set to begin a home delivery service of packages containing three such dishes.
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