Autumn 1979.

The Ishikari Ya chain has opened seven stores in Yubari Naganuma-cho, Yuin-machi, and Kuriyama-cho one after another.

Among them, Naganuma Town has the largest population, and there are three stores. Yuren and Kuriyama each opened two stores.

Towns and villages with a population of 50,000 or more can apply and become general municipalities.

The number of people in Naganuma reached 42,089 two years ago, and it is widely expected that Naganuma Town will be upgraded to Naganuma City.

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The administrative rank of RB "town" is the same as that of a city or village, which is equivalent to a town in Ryukoku.

The standard for setting up a town is 5,000 people, and the industrial and commercial population is more than 60%.

The local administrative division system of the RB was established in response to the Meiji government's policy of abolishing feudal prefectures in 1871.

Generally, there are two levels: metropolis, province, prefectural, and prefectural (regional public organizations), and cities, towns, and villages (basic local public organizations).

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With the support of the Hokkaido Coal Mine Municipality, hundreds of unemployed workers chose to join Ishikariya.

The mayor of Naganuma Town (the Hokkaido Coal Mine Local Government United faction) approved the use of the town's treasury to allocate the "Naganuma Town Coal Workers Special Loan for Reemployment".

The maximum loan amount for this "special loan for reemployment" is 500,000 yen.

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Ishikariya expands in three directions.

To the west along the Hokkaido Railway Road, to the east along the Ishikatsu Line, and to the north along the Oyubari Railway Line.

Hokkaido is rich in mineral resources, accounting for more than half of the country's coal reserves and production. The output of wheat, dairy cows and potatoes ranks first in the country.

It is the main food processing base of RB, with wood processing, steel industry, and paper production.

Most of Hokkaido's 129 towns and 15 villages are engaged in labor-intensive industries. After the war, the development of the RB railway infrastructure connected these villages and towns by rail.

Ishikarya quickly established a large number of franchise stores along the railway freight line in villages and towns with labor-intensive industries such as food processing, steel, wood processing, and paper making.

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Many years later, whenever people want to summarize the "Ishikariya legend".

The secret of Ishikariya's success is usually summed up as follows: "They entered the small town before everyone else." ”

But a long time ago, when Ishikari first caught the attention of others, many people in the restaurant chain described Ishikari as a bunch of "hillbillies" and "coolies......

The idea of developing along the railway line in a small village town was completely "a blind cat meets a dead mouse".

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In fact, the Ishikari house management の plan formulated by Mei.

The main strategy was to open chain restaurants in small towns neglected by Yoshinoya, Matsuya, and Shikiya restaurant chains in the 70s of the 20th century.

Yoshinoya does not open stores in villages or towns with a population of less than 50,000;

Even if it is a family, it will not consider a small place with a population of less than 10,000;

Ishikariya's principle is that even if there is a village with a population of only about 5,000, Ishikariya will open a store, and there are many such villages and towns in RB Japan, so there is a lot of room for expansion.

Penetrate the market by expanding outward, and then go back and spread the entire market.

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In the 70s of the 20th century, major national companies such as Yoshinoya and Shikiya had already taken the lead by establishing branches all over the country.

Ishikari House, which was just born, was obviously unable to support a similar business model.

However, as these big companies compete to move from one big city to another, they become too fragmented and caught up in the vortex of urban planning, local food and beverage preservation, and real estate.

Instead, great opportunities for development outside the city were left to Ishikariya.

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Preempt the vacuum.

is the key to this strategy.

Avoid the big cities with fierce competition, fill the business territory, village by village, town after town, until the market is spread out in the area,

In addition, this strategy can save a lot of money on advertising.

In these mostly remote villages, shops are opened from one village to another......

Through word of mouth, the closed network of people in the villages and towns can quickly deliver information about Ishikariya steamed buns to customers without the help of any advertising.

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In the 80s of the 20th century, when Ishikariya had 416 stores in Hokkaido, 215 stores in Aomori Prefecture, and 280 stores in Iwate Prefecture, the whole RB knew about "Ishikariya steamed manju......

Everyone is eagerly awaiting that Ishikari will open a shop in their town, where they can eat RB's best steamed steamed buns, the kind of magical dishes that relieve fatigue and restore physical strength.

In this way, Ishikari usually only needs to send an advertisement for a new product once, rather than doing a lot of advertising in newspapers and on TV.

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With the blessing of the [Yangquan Restaurant] system.

The Hokkaido Coal Mine Municipality United Unemployed Coal Workers can master steamed steamed bun dishes with the proficiency of the "First Grandmaster" in just two weeks of training.

In fact, without training, if you directly enter Ishikari House to work, you will naturally master the Grandmaster-level steamed steamed bun making technique under the buff of [Yangquan Restaurant].

However, in order to hide people's eyes, Nobunaga still arranged for franchisees to force two-week training.

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In addition to "creditor-based loyalty" and "Ume-の村、町 expansion strategy。

The Hokkaido Coal Mine Municipalities have joined forces and have begun to exert strong grassroots energy.

Goro Kamado and other local governments have united with the cadres to mobilize the ideas of the unemployed coal workers.

In addition, after the mayor of Naganuma town of the local government united faction, the town treasury was used to support unemployed coal workers.

The Hokkaido Coal Mine Governor's Joint Possession and the Kuriyama Town Council have also begun to work hard to pass unemployment relief bills to subsidize coal workers in the town.

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In just half a year, Ishikari has opened a total of 58 branches in the Sorachi Comprehensive Promotion Bureau.

The Sorachi Comprehensive Promotion Bureau is the revitalization bureau of the Hokkaido Provincial Government of RB, located in Iwamizawa City, and is in charge of 10 cities and 14 villages.

All of these stores were profitable within three months.

After deducting labor costs, store rent, raw material costs, and utility costs, the monthly net profit per store is 400,000 yen.

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According to an investigative report by the Sankei Shimbun, in 1979, the per capita monthly income of RB was divided into four types of districts according to different regions.

Tokyo and Osaka are first-class wards, with an average monthly salary of 166,560 yen;

Kyoto and Hiroshima are second-class districts, with an average monthly salary of 129,900 yen;

Nara, Fukuoka, and Hokkaido are Class III districts, with an average monthly salary of 118,560 yen;

Fukushima, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, and Okinawa belong to four categories of zones. It is also the lowest-income area in RB, with an average monthly salary of 101,360 yen;

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The monthly income of 400,000 yen is far more than the average level in a three-income region like Hokkaido.

The success of these shops ignited the enthusiasm of the unemployed coal workers throughout Yubari City, and people took out severance pay to join Ishikariya.

The success model was quickly replicated and the store was opened according to the established specifications......

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Wednesday, Autumn 1979.

Yangquan Restaurant, hang up the sign of temporary closure......