Published in August 2008

Main activities in the second half of last year

Activities after the plan is decided

<Project Details>

• Revitalizing the local industry with apples - promoting the town from the perspective that there is no other town with so many apple orchards. Since Hirosaki City and Kuroishi City already had processing plants and juice factories, the idea of simply building a similar processing plant was thought to be insufficient to compete.

• Market research on products sold at department stores and supermarkets revealed that most of the apples were made from concentrate or from apples that had fallen and could not be sold raw.
• On the other hand, there is also the fact that high-quality products, such as tomato juice from Takanosu Town in Hokkaido, can sell even if they are expensive.
• We put together a 10cm thick project plan like the one above and went to explain the project to the prefectural government officials, but at the time, the project was only subsidized for production hardware, so it was difficult to convince them.
• When applying for the subsidy, the prefectural officials were hesitant and took the stance that if Kasumigaseki approved it, the prefecture would approve it.
• Mr. Suzuki went to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Kasumigaseki to explain the project, and the project was approved. At the same time as the designation was approved, the project was approved as a subsidy target.

Running the Project

• We were in a tight spot and somehow managed to move forward, but without the product we were aiming for, it was just a plan on paper, so it was difficult to explain it to the townspeople in a way that they could understand.
• Until completion → In 1987, he was the mayor of Takenami Town for his seventh term, but he himself promoted the project.
• Because the Hometown Center had not yet taken shape, opposition to the project grew in the town, to the point where he gave up his candidacy, and the situation escalated to the point where a prefectural assemblyman who was opposed to the project at the time became mayor.

Developing markets to sell products

• Suzuki himself visited department stores to develop sales channels.
• At first, they produced 32,000 units and did cold calling. They happened to find a salesperson who understood the situation, so they started as a test case selling them on a platform for a week, and achieved sales of 2.5 million yen in that week.
• Providing a new business model for farmers
• The reality of a typical four-person apple farm before Apple Work was established
• Owns 1.5 to 2 hectares of apple orchard and 1.5 to 2.5 hectares of rice paddy
• Sixty percent of the apples grown were specially selected to be sold for 4,500 to 6,000 yen per 20-kilogram wooden box, and the rest were lower grade apples that were sold for under 1,000 yen or substandard apples that were sold for 100 to 200 yen.
• At the Hometown Apple Work Center, they are proposing to buy non-standard apples for 1,500 to 2,000 yen per 20 kilograms and turn them into 100% ripe juice.
• At Ringo Work, we can make 18 to 21 bottles of 720ml juice from one 20kg box of apples, which we sell for 1,000 yen, so we are able to buy them at the prices mentioned above.

<Other>

• Obtaining permission under the Local Autonomy Act, the company was established and began selling goods.
• However, after being found to be in violation of the Law on the Rationalization of Subsidies, the organization was converted into a civil law incorporated foundation.
• There was no other foundation that handled the functions of manufacturing, sales, and wholesale, so Suzuki himself went to the Public Interest Corporation Accounting Association to study industrial and commercial bookkeeping.
• Even now, Chairman of foundations and other directors do not receive any salary.
• Profits from apple work are donated to the town (up to 50 million yen or more)
• Since last year, some employees of the corporation have been given the benefit (at the end of the fiscal year for temporary employees)
• Pay off 14-year loan in 7 years with own factory
• Suzuki was promoted from assistant manager to director of Ringo Work five years ago and repaid the 200 million yen.
• The first 10 years saw rapid growth
• Over the past decade, the market has continued to grow at a rate of 5-10% year-on-year.
• Recently, the company has expanded overseas and opened a shop in Hong Kong in 2005.
• Direct sales are only available to those who cannot buy from department stores.
• Sales ratio: 60% department stores, 20% direct sales. Smaller department stores sell through Itochu etc.

Human Resources Training

• Farmers' successors also go to department stores and are trained on how the products they produce are sold. There is even a case where a person who participated in a one-week sales event in Osaka to train section chief-level U-turned farmers and develop successors is now a town council member.

This year's activity plan

Bungotakada City Tourism and Urban Development Co., Ltd. (Bungo Takada City, Oita Prefecture)

Kurokawa Onsen hot spring town (Kumamoto Prefecture)

Irodori Co., Ltd. (Kamikatsucho, Katsuura District, Tokushima Prefecture)

Bungotakada City Tourism and Urban Development Co., Ltd.

Kurokawa Onsen: Revitalization of the hot spring town