Hideki Takahashi, Representative Director, Japan Food & Beverage Management Council

To protect the future of the restaurant industry, we must make our voices heard by the government and politicians.

Representative Director of the Japan Food & Beverage Management Council　Hideki Takahashi(Takahashi Hideki)

■ Profile
Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1970, he trained at restaurants in Osaka from the age of 15, and at the age of 24, he moved to Fukuyama, Hiroshima with the previous president to establish Yumefue Corporation. At the age of 34, he took over the company and became its representative director. From 2008, he also served as the second chairman of the NPO Izakaya Koshien for two years. In November 2021, he founded the industry group "Japan Food and Beverage Management Council" to rebuild the restaurant industry, which had suffered severe damage due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and became its representative director.
He also serves as executive director of the Japan Food and Beverage Association, a general incorporated association with 48 food and beverage-related organizations as members, and is working to solve the issues facing Japan's food and beverage industry.

The Japan Food & Beverage Association, a group of 48 organizations, aims to bring about rule changes by consolidating the voices of the food and beverage industry and conveying them to the government. How did the Japan Food & Beverage Association come about? And what future does the association aim for? We spoke with Takahashi, Executive Director of the Japan Food & Beverage Association and Representative Director of the Japan Food & Beverage Management Council.

◾️One encounter can change your life

Sometimes life leads us to unexpected crossroads. Mine too began by chance in high school. I had loved soccer since elementary school and wanted to continue playing until college. However, when I enrolled in high school, there was only a rugby club, and I lost sight of my purpose in going to school. Disappointed, I dropped out after just three months, and my dream of becoming a teacher, which had been my dream since elementary school, became more distant. However, that's when I discovered the food and beverage industry. I started working part-time at an izakaya, and I enjoyed it so much that my curiosity turned from soccer to part-time work. After that, my life changed dramatically when I met the izakaya, which was the only place that would hire me despite having only just graduated from junior high school.

After that, there were four major turning points in my life.

The first was a change in my attitude towards work. When I was 16, I started working at an izakaya, but I was always slacking off. I worked 360 days out of 365, but I was late for 360 days, so it's easy to see how unmotivated I was (laughs). But when I was 16, one of my seniors asked me, "Are you sure you want to keep going like this?" Those words made me think, "If I'm going to do it, I might as well do it properly," and I decided to enter the world of chefs.

The second was when I was 20 years old and had only just graduated from junior high school, and the managing director of the restaurant that had hired me was calling me. At the time, I was working at a traditional Japanese restaurant in Kobe, aiming to become a chef. Then, the managing director of the izakaya that had first hired me asked me if I would like to become the manager of the izakaya. I felt indebted to the managing director, so I left my studies to become a chef and returned to Osaka. After returning to Osaka, I worked as a manager at three restaurants. It was my first managerial position, but sales at all three restaurants exceeded the previous year's figures. I didn't do anything special; I just did ordinary things like greeting people and keeping the restaurant clean. That's where I learned that ordinary things create results.

The third was becoming president at the age of 34. Three years after I started as manager of three stores, the person who interviewed me when I was 15 asked me if I wanted to come and be the executive chef of a restaurant I was opening in Hiroshima. Thinking it would be a good experience, I joined as executive chef, and after working as a restaurant manager and manager, I was promoted to head of sales after 10 years. Although the company had grown to six stores, I thought about my future and decided to leave the company, thinking, "If I'm going to be independent, now is the time." I announced my intention to leave, but all the store managers said, "They'll leave if I leave," so I bought the company through an MBO and became president at the age of 34.

The fourth was my meeting with Keisuke Oshima and the founding of the Japan Food & Beverage Association. First, with the goal of "changing Japan through izakayas and revitalizing the izakaya industry," I launched the Izakaya Koshien competition with Keisuke Oshima, a competition to determine the best izakaya in Japan. While I was able to pursue my dream through Izakaya Koshien, I also realized that the industry would not change unless we improved the abacus—that is, the revenue structure. After retiring from Izakaya Koshien, I expanded my own business, including franchisees and weddings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were forced to follow government policy, and various rules changed. I keenly felt that the voices of the food and beverage industry were not being heard. However, by uniting these voices, we could reach the government and the country. I felt the need for a more direct approach to dialogue with politicians, so I decided to bring together food and beverage industry organizations. This led to the founding of the Japan Food & Beverage Association, which now includes 48 organizations.

◾️Let your voice be heard by the government. Changing the rules will change the future.

In the restaurant industry, there's a large gap between Tokyo and the countryside. We felt the need to help these regions, so we established the Japan Restaurant Management Council as one of the regional branches of the Shokudanren. Connecting food culture and artisan culture to the future, improving cultural and monetary value—this is the vision the Shokudanren aims for. To achieve this, we need rules. The Shokudanren exists as both an organization for creating rules and an organization for learning them. We hold study sessions with politicians to foster healthy values ​​in the restaurant industry. We also need to appeal to politicians and the restaurant industry. Seven percent of the workforce works in the restaurant industry. That's why we must create a future for restaurant workers, so that they're rewarded. We want people working in the restaurant industry to be proud of their work. This applies even to 1000-yen izakayas. Through the Shokudanren, we hope to create a bright future for the restaurant industry.

◾️Message

What I tell my children is not to lie, to cherish life, and to work together as siblings. Honesty is also important. Honesty does not mean dismissing others, but rather having a positive attitude and thinking that makes you smile. I think just being able to turn things in a positive way can make a big difference. This is the same at work. And the company will not protect you. Don't expect the company to do anything, but always think and act on your own will. You are not a mindless cog in the machine.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on May 4, 2024 by Daiki Shimada, a fourth-year student at Hosei University

Daiki Shimada, third-year student at Hosei University / Hikoyoshi Yoshi, second-year student at Keio University Graduate School / Hidemasa Ishihara, third-year student at Toyo Gakuen University / Ryusei Nishiyama, fourth-year student at Musashino University