DO YOU REALLY WANT YOUR OWN PLACE??
Stop me if you’ve read this before...
So you’re in a local somewhere in Japan and thought “This bar could be so much busier if only they had live music or put on the football!”
Or maybe you have THAT secret recipe for the best brownie ever eaten... now if only you had the right shop in the right location to sell out of them, like - every day.
Then you go “Hey I can do this. Why not open my own place?” - now go on, admit it. You know you’ve thought about it. Repeatedly.
You decide to do a quick Google search, but results overflow with: ”Impossible for foreigners to do in Japan” or "90% of restaurants that open close down in the first 12 months". You know the type - they’re usually written by someone online who probably hasn’t even been to Japan.
Even if that doesn’t put you off, there are the well intentioned but misinformed tropes like ”You can’t own a business without a Japanese business partner“ (spoiler: not necessarily true - though it does make things easier)
Disheartened, you may quietly re-file those dreams back in your mental folder and get back to whatever career you’ve decided to settle for.
Feeling the shame of surrender, you figure you'd better get busy living. So you look past all that negative info-overload, and reach out to a local expert. Ah yes - the high-end “legal firm”: all questions answered, company set-up, all for “only” 1 million yen. Yeah right.
On top of THAT, you still need to:
* find a location
* write up a business plan for a business loan
* source food (& beverage) suppliers
* apply for a businesses license
* get health & safety licenses
* oh yeah, and a visa!
Who’s going to help you with that?
————————
Back to reality.
Not gonna lie: opening a new business in Japan as a foreigner is definitely a challenge. But with the right support, it’s just a process to be done - like in any other country.
And we know this because at JHC we’ve already lived it. Our 20 years of experience doing *exactly this* in Japan’s hospitality industry means we have you covered.
Your first step is to get in touch with one of our consultants to talk about bringing your idea to life.
In that initial meeting we’ll cover:
* Financing. Yes this ALWAYS comes first (let’s be frank - if your numbers don’t add up, we’ll send you back to get this right before anything else)
Then...
* a solid business plan to help you acquire a loan
* establishing a company (with or without a Japanese partner)
* visa requirements
* locations
* licenses
* suppliers
* the cultural particulars with business in Japan
So when you’re ready to bring your business ideas to life, start the journey by getting in touch today.