Hoshizaki to Reorganize Operating Bases in China to Further Boost Competitiveness in the Chinese Market

Integrating Development, Manufacturing, and Sales to Improve Ability to Address Customer Needs Promptly and Individually

HOSHIZAKI CORPORATION (Head office: Toyoake City, Aichi; President & CEO: Yasuhiro Kobayashi; hereafter “Hoshizaki”) will restructure its business by reorganizing its operating bases in the People’s Republic of China (hereafter “China”) to further boost its competitiveness with a view to long-term growth. It will integrate its development, manufacturing, and sales capabilities—which are currently divided among three companies—within a single company, thereby accelerating coordination among development, manufacturing, and sales to improve both its ability to address individual customer needs and its price competitiveness.

Hoshizaki in China: Expanding the company’s business foundation in response to market changes

Hoshizaki expanded its business foundation in China by first establishing an office in Beijing in 1998 to undertake sales (in 2004, Hoshizaki set up the present-day HOSHIZAKI SHANGHAI CO., LTD. [hereafter “Hoshizaki Shanghai”] in Shanghai and transferred the office’s sales capability to this new company). Subsequently, in 2006, Hoshizaki established HOSHIZAKI SUZHOU CO., LTD. (hereafter “Hoshizaki Suzhou”) in Suzhou, Jiangsu as a manufacturing plant, and in 2012 it established HOSHIZAKI (CHINA) HOLDINGS CO., LTD. (hereafter “Hoshizaki China Holdings”) in Shanghai to oversee its China-based operations.
In January 2024, Hoshizaki strengthened its local development capabilities by setting up an R&D center at Hoshizaki China Holdings in Dalian to respond to rapid changes in the Chinese market and its customers’ needs.

Business restructuring to address post-pandemic changes in the Chinese market

Since the pandemic, the Chinese food and beverage market has undergone structural changes including diversification of consumer tastes in food and an increase in openings of new food and beverage chain outlets across a wide range of categories such as restaurants, tea- and coffee-shop chains, fast-food, and bakeries. The economic damage caused by the pandemic has created a marked tendency for business operators to control investment per-store costs, particularly among food and beverage chains that operate multiple outlets. Such chains now tend to require order-made products for installation in numerous outlets that can be delivered rapidly and at low cost. Furthermore, Hoshizaki’s experience in the European, American, and Japanese markets leads it to anticipate that in the Chinese market, as in these markets, chain-based food and beverage brands will account for an increasingly large proportion of all restaurants and cafés.
Hoshizaki therefore decided to pursue continued growth in China by restructuring its business to enable it to address such market changes.

Strengthening the business structure by integrating development, manufacturing, and sales within a single company

Hoshizaki will integrate the capabilities that are currently divided among three companies—the Product Development Center of Hoshizaki China Holdings (development), Hoshizaki Shanghai (sales), and Hoshizaki Suzhou (manufacturing)—within one company based on Hoshizaki Suzhou. The integrated company will start operation on January 2, 2025. Prior to this business integration, on October 18, 2024, Hoshizaki Suzhou changed its name to HOSHIZAKI CHINA CORPORATION (located in Suzhou, Jiangsu).

Following integration, the new company will accelerate decision-making and development processes, while maintaining the high quality that is Hoshizaki’s strength. The company will be structured to enable rapid mass-production and delivery of order-made products. It will take as little as one month to develop and deliver products for testing purposes that meet the specifications and price levels restaurants and cafés require and will flexibly incorporate their wishes in response to the results of testing. This consolidation of development, manufacturing, and sales capabilities will also allow greater streamlining of operations, enabling the new company to improve its price competitiveness.

Through this business reorganization, Hoshizaki will enhance its ability to address customer needs, thereby achieving faster growth. In future, the company will expand its lineup of ice machines and commercial refrigerators and freezers, as well as its range of other food service equipment, and seek to enhance its solutions including entire-kitchen design and installation. By addressing the needs of customers in a diverse range of sectors including restaurants and cafés, Hoshizaki aims to ensure long-term growth for its Chinese operations as a whole.