Japanese Store Owner Apologises For Putting Less Filling Because He’s Going Broke; Gets More Customers Instead

By
Sabrina Chua
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The COVID-19 pandemic has been unforgiving on many businesses worldwide, and some stores have had no choice but to close down due to the rising costs and the lack of customers.

Others are still holding on and hoping that this difficult period will pass.

Image: YouTube

One such person is 45-year-old Junya Hashimoto, who owns an F&B store called Taiyaki no Bunfukuya in Gyoda City, Saitama Prefecture.

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He specialises in taiyaki, which is a traditional Japanese fish-shaped pastry filled with fillings like red bean paste.

Not Much Business

Taiyaki treats are usually most popular during winter because it is served hot, which is perfect for warming tummies when it is cold outside.

Image: YouTube

Unfortunately, this also means that they are not as popular during the summer.

With the pandemic affecting businesses and the lack of customers during the summer, Hashimoto revealed that Taiyaki no Bunfukuya experienced a 70% drop in sales.

In an attempt to cut back on his losses, Hashimoto decided to raise the prices of his taiyaki treats to increase his profit margins.

However, he immediately felt wrong for doing so and decided to make up for the price difference by adding more filling to the treats. This way, he wouldn’t feel like he was cheating his customers.

As time went on, the additional bit of filling that he added started accumulating, and soon, he realised that doing this has resulted in an even higher cost incurred. In fact, he realised that his shop was about to be bankrupt soon.

Image: YouTube

In order to solve this, he decided that he had no choice but to reduce the amount of filling in his treats back to the original amount whilst maintaining the price increase.

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“Please Forgive Me.”

Since he didn’t feel good about his actions, he decided that it was probably best to let his customers know what he has done and ask for forgiveness.

He put up a handwritten sign right outside his store so that all his customers would be aware of it before they entered to purchase his taiyaki.

He even posted a photo of his handwritten sign on Twitter so that more people would know about it.

His handwritten note said:

“Honestly speaking, I used to put a lot of anko (red bean paste) inside, but there was no profit from it. I will reduce the amount of anko because the store is about to go broke. Please forgive me.”

He even added on a sad face to indicate how sorry he was to his customers.

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A Surprising Outcome

Hashimoto’s tweet about seeking forgiveness from his customers has gotten 65,600 retweets and 248 comments since he uploaded it on 24 August 2021.

Many could tell that he was legitimately apologetic for his actions, and they immediately praised him for being upfront about it. Some were also very touched by his words and promised to make a trip down to his store to buy his taiyaki.

Hashimoto became viral within just two weeks, and his story got picked up by a news outlet.

They showed him making his taiyaki and filmed customers queuing up to purchase from him despite the reduced amount of filling.

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It’s heartwarming to see Hashimoto so earnest in his business and even more heartening to see customers flocking to his store to show their support for him.

I guess honesty is really the best policy, huh?

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Feature Image: YouTube / Twitter

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Sabrina Chua
[email protected]