Sales and Service

Sales Structure

The Hoshizaki Group’s sales activities are conducted through 15 sales companies in Japan and about 430 sales offices operated by these sales companies. This extensive network enables sales companies and their sales offices to engage in proposal-style marketing geared to regional needs and respond quickly to customer-specific maintenance requests. A major feature of the Hoshizaki Group is its business model—a structure that hinges on collaboration between Hoshizaki, which is responsible for product development and manufacturing, and its sales companies, which are responsible for sales and after-sales services, and thereby integrate manufacturing and sales activities. By delegating marketing and service staff to its sales companies, Hoshizaki ensures responses are fine-tuned to customers’ product and service needs.

Kitchen Design and Construction

The Hoshizaki Group draws on the skills of approximately 150 designers in Japan who plan out more than 18,000 kitchen projects each year. Designers have the ability to combine proprietary products and the products of other companies into a total solution perfectly matched to each customer’s needs, which gives Hoshizaki a unique edge over its competitors. Sales representatives combine various aspects of kitchen design, including products customized to customers’ business format, zoning for improved operations, and systems that facilitate computer-based centrally managed temperature records for food ingredients, to create high-value-added kitchens and then present the designs using 3D imaging so that customers can intuitively see how their kitchens will look and operate. The success of this approach is substantiated by complete installation of some 5,300 kitchens, on an annual basis, for a range of customers, including foreign-owned five-star hotels, hospitals with more than 1,000 beds, company cafeterias, and restaurant chains initially launched in Japan.

Hoshizaki’s presence extends beyond kitchens, with involvement in the design and installation of large facilities that support the cold chain, including processing rooms in food processing plants, cleanrooms and refrigerators in food warehouses, and refrigerators at fruit and vegetable markets.

Examples of 3D proposal

Service Support Structure

The Hoshizaki Group has approximately 2,650 service representatives in Japan who provide maintenance for all products delivered to customer kitchens, whether those products are Hoshizaki-brand products or products made by other companies, and repair data is compiled so that service representatives can provide suggestions on trimming costs and the best time to upgrade equipment. In addition, through regular visits according to maintenance contracts that many of our customers enter, service representatives take a photo of the condition of equipment used in customer kitchens and turn that into a reference list that guides advice on equipment use in order to prevent damage to the equipment and support systematic upgrades. Customer feedback received during visits by service representatives is fed back to our sales and product development teams, and reflected in future product proposals and development. Of note, we set up a call center as an access point to equipment maintenance and repair for specific customers, to create a service structure for round-the-clock inquiry 365 days a year and same-day responses.

Extensive Support

The Hoshizaki Group has more than 120 food advisors nationwide as well as corporate chefs with experience working in luxury hotels who run food seminars at approximately 60 test kitchens in Japan. They also help develop recipes and support hygiene control.

The test kitchens also generate meal solutions that address social issues, such as the aging population and inherent challenges with eating as people get older. This includes dishes for people who have difficulty swallowing, soft-texture foods, and foods with the consistency of jelly. We share these examples with sales companies across Japan and roll them out laterally, responding to our customers' issues in each region.

Recently, due to COVID-19, more restaurants have started offering takeout. Hoshizaki is available to customers in a consulting capacity to help with various issues, from notification to public health offices to hygiene control for delivery operations.

We operate approximately 60 test kitchens across Japan. (Photo: Test kitchen in Osaki, Tokyo)

Creating a Safe and Secure Food Environment

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a global standard for food safety management. Compliance is increasingly becoming mandatory, especially in developed countries. In Japan as well, the June 2018 revision to the Food Sanitation Act made the introduction of HACCP mandatory for all food business operators, including food-service businesses, starting June 2020.

Adoption of HACCP helps to solve social issues, including helping our customers increase their productivity and reduce food loss. For this reason, Hoshizaki and our domestic sales companies actively support its adoption. In addition to publishing support information on our website and elsewhere, we have trained approximately 670 employees with HACCP-related qualifications who provide support including assessing customer hygiene, supporting the acquisition of HACCP certification, providing crisis management equipment, and supporting kitchen design based on HACCP.

In addition to a broad product lineup including water electrolyzer (hypochlorous acid water generators) for hygiene management, steam convection ovens for cooking, and blast chillers, shock freezers, and other refrigeration equipment for rapid refrigeration, we support staff education based on our abundant track record, which includes HACCP compliance.

Support for Customer amid COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has massively impacted restaurants, which account for about 40% of the Group’s sales.

In July 2020, Hoshizaki and its domestic sales companies launched Hoshizaki Challenge Support in order to support its restaurant customers that started takeout, online sales, and other new initiatives. For takeout, we provide advice on developing menus with low risk of food poisoning, and propose takeout menus using steam convection ovens. For online sales, we provide advice relating to the need for sales licenses and how to perform food and allergy labeling. We also provide information on sustainability subsidies for small businesses and other subsidies.

Additionally, in order to support temporary business closures and re-openings, we provide information on procedures for long-term shutdowns and resumption of operation by product on our website.

After-Sales Service through Information Updates

Beyond the sale of products, Hoshizaki puts concerted efforts into information updates, mainly through its website, to promote proper use of the products in its lineup. The webpage for Cook Everio—a steam convection oven that makes it possible to cook various heat-applied dishes in a single unit—presents guidance on use and cleaning and other hints from customers who use this product as well as more than 1,000 recipes.

Post recipes for cooking with steam convection ovens as well as articles of interest, including the manga “Hanjoten he no Michi” (“Road to Prosperity”)

Raising Customer Satisfaction

Hoshizaki asks people who visit the corporate booth at kitchen equipment fairs, etc., to fill out a questionnaire, and the resulting comments as well as changes in society provide the basis for planning, designing and manufacturing new products. We also apply comments from customers actually using Hoshizaki products to our PDCA cycle for product improvement and enhanced quality control.

In addition, to improve customer service, we regularly conduct a customer satisfaction survey. Customer comments pertaining to sales representatives, service representatives, products and Hoshizaki overall are analyzed and shared, which provides the basis for measures to boost customer satisfaction.