Popular Japanese restaurant chain shuts 2,000 outlets after rat and cockroach found in soup

A regular customer at Japan’s Sukiya restaurant felt the miso soup had a bit too much umami flavour, only to discover later that it was due to an ‘unusual’ ingredient - a rat.

Leading Japanese restaurant Sukiya has announced to shut almost all of its outlets, temporarily, after a customer found a rat in the soup. The customer was dining at one of its outlets in Tottori, southwestern Japan, and ordered a bowl of miso soup. The incident happened in late January. In a separate incident, another customer found a cockroach in the restaurant’s Tokyo outlet on March 28. The restaurant giant temporarily shut down the affected outlets, following the incidents, to carry out extermination work and inspections.

Sukiya is the country’s largest chain serving gyūdon (beef bowls). The chain acknowledged the incidents and said an investigation found that the rodent entered a refrigerator through a crack in a door. The restaurant apologized to its customers in a statement, “We deeply apologize to the customer who reported the case to us over the tremendous pain and trouble. We also apologize to all our customers who patronize our restaurants and related people for causing tremendous trouble and concerns.”

The chain stated that it takes the complaints ‘very seriously’ and will shut most of its branches from Mar. 31 to Apr. 4 to address contamination problems and pest infestations.

In a statement shared on Mar. 29, following the latest contamination in Tokyo, the restaurant said that the affected customer had received a refund. “The store manager apologized directly to the customer, refunded the product price, and collected the actual product. In response to this situation, the store voluntarily suspended operations from around 5:00 p.m. on the same day."

The first Sukiya restaurant was opened in 1982 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. The restaurant was founded by Kentarō Ogawa, who originally worked at Yoshinoya, another gyūdon restaurant. The restaurant chain is popular for Gyūdon, a traditional dish made with thinly sliced beef and onions simmered in a mildly sweet soy-based sauce, served over a bowl of rice. The dish also comes with a variety of toppings such as raw or soft poached eggs, negi onions, grated cheese, or kimchi. The company, owned by Japanese food industry giant Zensho Holdings, has nearly 2,000 outlets in Japan and about 660 stores overseas, including China, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, and Mexico.