Sukiya swims against the economic current by permanently reducing gyudon prices.

For more than a year now, there’s been a steady stream of restaurants and retailers in Japan announcing price increases. We’re not talking about luxury establishments, either, but ordinary, everyday places like drugstores, supermarkets, and fast food joints.

So while Japan may still feel like a bargain for overseas tourists leveraging the weak-yen exchange rate, people living and working in Japan have had to be increasingly careful with their spending. Thankfully, though, one of the country’s favorite gyudon/beef bowl chains has announced it’s going to be lowering its prices, so that even at a time when many local Japanese residents are having to tighten their belts, they can still have space for a convenient, tasty meal.

Sukiya, one of Japan’s big-three gyudon chains and a rival to Yoshinoya and Matsuya, issued a statement on Thursday saying that it’s revising the prices for its flagship standard gyudon (pictured above), lowering the price by as much as 9.3 percent, depending on size. As of September 4, regular-size gyudon will drop to 450 yen (US$3.05) from its previous 480-yen price, while mini-sizes will be 390 yen, large-sizes 650 yen, and special-sizes 850 yen (previously 430, 680, and 880 yen).

Sukiya has made no mention of reducing portion sizes or switching to lower-quality ingredients, either, with the announcement simply stating that the chain knows that times are tough for a lot of people, but still wants them to be able to enjoy Sukiya’s gyudon.

Recently, there has been a trend of increasing prices due to rapidly rising costs for ingredients, raw materials, and energy. Within this economic climate, though, we hope that many people will be able to enjoy our gyudon at Sukiya, and so we have decided to revise our prices.

Sukiya uses carefully selected varieties of domestically grown rice such as Koshihikari and Hitomebore. We will offer the same delicious flavor and high-quality gyudon at a more affordable price, so that our customers can enjoy our gyudon in a variety of situations.

We hope that you will take this opportunity to dine on Sukiya gyudon, both in our restaurants and through takeout.

What’s more, the revised prices aren’t a temporary, customer appreciation week-style promotion. They’re permanent reductions.

It’s true that saving 40 yen on a beef bowl isn’t, all by itself, going to save anyone from becoming destitute, in the same way that paying a little extra for shampoo, train tickets, or curry rice aren’t upending people’s finances individually. Still, at a time when people in Japan are paying more for pretty much everything, it’s nice to see one company doing what it can to give diners some small relief from their economic woes. Another example of Sukiya’s customer-friendly pricing is its Suki Pass system, a digital/card coupon program where you can pay 200 yen upfront and get 70 yen off for each of up to three gyudon per visit, as many times as you want for an entire calendar month.

So between the Suki Pass and the reduced base prices, this is going to save Sukiya customers a nice bit of cash, and especially so for this guy.

Source: Sukiya
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Insert images: Sukiya (1, 2, 3)
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