Yamazaki Baking to become Fujiya’s largest shareholder

March 29, 2007
By Ken Worsley

Last weekend, after just over two months of near-total shutdown, embattled confectionery maker Fujiya resumed limited sales of its cakes. On Tuesday, it was announced that Yamazaki Baking will purchase a 35 percent stake in Fujiya for about 16 billion yen, and thus will become Fujiya’s largest shareholder.

Publicly, the companies say that Yamazaki will lend better corporate governance and help Fujiya ensure that sanitation standards are followed. Both counts, though especially the latter, seem like hogwash. Sanitation standards, of course, are set out in print. They simply have to be read, understood and enforced by management. Fujiya’s problem seems to have been with the enforcement part.

Will Yamazaki help with that? Almost certainly. Will Fujiya recover?

No one died from eating a Fujiya product. Not a single person got sick from eating a Fujiya product. At home, we frequently use eggs that might be a few days past the freshness date - they’re always marked a bit early, right?

When Fujiya re-opened one of their shops in Suidobashi, Tokyo, a few weeks ago, there was an hour-long wait in line. Six months from now this will all be forgotten.

Filed Under Business, Retail