Der wachsende Appetit von Private Equity auf Fast Food in Japan

*More from Bloomberg News reporter Lisa Du:*

Japan’s culinary delights are legendary: Tokyo is home to more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city on Earth, and millions of tourists a year flock to the country to sample everything from simple dipping ramen to multicourse kaiseki dinners that change with the seasons. So why are US private equity firms betting millions on American burgers and fried chicken there?

Carlyle paid ¥95 billion ($595 million) for the Japanese operations of KFC in 2024, and last year the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs bought Japan’s Burger King operations for ¥70 billion. And the Japanese unit of Wendy’s is now in play, with investment firm Longreach Group said to be considering offers.

Demographic shifts such as a rise in one-person households and dual-income families, both of which favor convenient, quick meals, are fueling fast-food sales. And with inflation picking up, increasing numbers of Japanese diners see burgers and fried chicken as an affordable treat—trends the PE shops think they can ride to riches. “Private equity is always looking for any overlooked, undervalued asset class, and certainly the restaurant industry has been that,” says Ernie Higa, chairman of Wendy’s Japan and a former head of Domino’s in the country.

Japan’s $227 billion restaurant sector has barely grown since 2018, even as sales at burger and fried chicken joints have expanded an average of more than 7% annually over the same period. While revenue for some local informal dining options—conveyer-belt sushi, ramen and beef bowl shops—has also increased, their growth has been below 5% per year, researcher Fuji Keizai reports.

Oh great so Japanese food will become bland paste shaped like food