Photo/Illutration A Gusto restaurant in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward operated by Skylark Holdings Co. (Kazumi Tako)

Major restaurant chain owner Skylark Holdings Co. will extend business hours at restaurants that scaled back operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some may even resume 24-hour service.

“The market for late-night dining shrank amid the pandemic but is now expanding significantly,” Makoto Tani, chairman and president of the company, told The Asahi Shimbun on Jan. 5.

The family restaurants Gusto and Jonathan, as well as the Chinese restaurant Bamiyan, are among the restaurants that would extend their operating hours, Tani said.

The first phase of the plan could be introduced as early as mid-February by extending opening hours at some of its restaurants, and the company will soon announce details of its plan, Tani said.

He said the company will adjust the hours at restaurants it owns in urban areas and the suburbs based on the changing needs and lifestyles of locals.

“Some restaurants will be open for 24 hours while others will close at 5 a.m., 2 a.m. or 11:30 p.m.,” Tani said. “There are few places where we can eat late at night. It’s our important responsibility to open restaurants (late at night).”

He said one of the reasons for extending opening hours is that the work environment at the company’s restaurants have improved through adopting technology such as serving robots, self-checkout machines and tablet-ordering systems at tables.

The company discontinued 24-hour operations at its restaurants in 2020, a move encouraged by the government’s “work-style reform” initiative and other social trends.

Last fall, it also made around 400 of its restaurants which had previously closed at 11:30 p.m. close earlier, by 30 to 60 minutes, in response to the widespread adoption of remote working and the decrease in customers who drop by on their way home from work.

Related News