AI-generated summary
Kura Sushi has a track record of greatly increasing its business performance through collaboration with Chikawa in the past. The campaign started on August 21st, but was canceled on September 6th after it was discovered that an employee had been involved in misconduct.
On the Tokyo stock market on September 7th, Kura Sushi's stock price temporarily fell to 1,675 yen, down 65 yen (-3.7%) from the previous business day. After that, the decline narrowed, and the closing price was 44 yen lower (-2.5%) at 1,696 yen. The cancellation of the collaboration campaign with the popular character "Chiikawa" announced on the 5th is seen as one of the reasons for the decline.
Kura Sushi canceled its collaboration campaign with Chiikawa, which started on August 21st, on August 6th due to the discovery of misconduct by an employee. It was originally scheduled to run until September 30th. Collaboration prizes, first-come-first-served gifts, and collaboration menus for "Bikura Pon!" will be discontinued, and the original sushi plates that were scheduled to be distributed on September 18th will also be cancelled. As an apology for ending the sale early, we are offering a 10% discount on all items on both the 6th and 7th.
Regarding the campaign, a large number of prizes were put up for sale on flea market sites, and there were a number of voices on social media questioning the involvement of employees. The company announced on the 2nd that it is investigating the facts. Although the details of the misconduct were not disclosed in the announcement on the 5th, some reports, including TV Asahi, said that the employees had embezzled the prizes.
Collaboration with Chikawa has a track record of contributing to business results in the past. In its interim report for the fiscal year ending October 2025 (November 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024), Kura Sushi explained that the collaboration it conducted in March 2024 became "explosively popular" and its profits rose significantly for its domestic business.
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