Net cafe’s largest cheerful CLUB “free morning” “all-you-can-use towel” impact of 100 stores abolition Good business results…Why on earth? : J-CAST News[full text]

J-CAST that the services “free morning” and “all-you-can-use towels” provided by the Internet cafe “Kaikatsu CLUB” have ended at about 100 stores from February to September 2022. I found out through news coverage.

Why is it that popular services with users are ending one after another? I asked the company why.


  • KAIKATSU CLUB store (Tokyo)


  • “Free morning all-you-can-eat”. Now I can only eat bread. (From Kaikatsu CLUB official website)

  • KAIKATSU CLUB store (Tokyo)

In February, it was said that “the end will be at some stores”, but…

Kaikatsu Club, a subsidiary of AOKI Holdings, is a cafe complex where you can enjoy the Internet and manga in private rooms. With 502 stores nationwide (as of October 4, 2010), it is the largest in the industry. In April 2009, it opened its first store in Kochi Prefecture and expanded into 47 prefectures nationwide.

Due to the effects of temporary closures and refraining from going out due to the declaration of a state of emergency during the corona crisis, the company recorded an operating loss of 3,732 million yen in the fiscal year ending March 2021 (including the figure of the fitness gym “FiT24”). Even so, business performance is on a recovery trend, and the operating income for the fiscal year ending March 2023 is expected to be 1.95 billion yen, which is close to the pre-COVID-19 fiscal year (the fiscal year ending March 2019). In the first quarter of the same year, the operating profit has already exceeded that of the same period in 2019, indicating that it is doing well.

One of the strengths of Kaikatsu CLUB is its wide range of services. Users can eat all-you-can-eat soft-serve ice cream and all-you-can-drink soft drinks. There are stores that offer all-you-can-eat bread and french fries for a “free breakfast,” stores that offer free showers, and stores that offer unlimited use of towels.

However, on February 1, 2010, free morning potatoes were suspended at all stores due to the delay in importing raw materials from North America. Around the same time, a post was circulating on Twitter that some stores were discontinuing the “Free Morning” and “Unlimited Use of Towels” services.

On February 9, when J-CAST News interviewed the public relations company of KAIKATSU FRONTIER (Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama), they explained that the free morning and all-you-can-use towels will end at “some stores”. The reason for this is the lack of staff at the stores, and the free morning service will end at 18 stores and all-you-can-use towels at 20 stores. He also replied, “It is undecided at this time to reflect it in all stores.”

As of February 9, 478 stores offer free breakfast and 335 stores offer unlimited use of towels. However, as of October 4th, 373 stores offer free breakfast and 233 stores offer unlimited use of towels. Over the past eight months, the number of participating stores has decreased by more than 100 stores.

High prices hit directly … Person in charge “sorry”

On October 4, 2010, a spokesperson for Kaikatsu Frontier told J-CAST News that from February to September, “Free Morning” and “All-you-can-use towels” services will end at more than 100 stores each. I admitted that I was

Why on earth has the implementation store decreased so much? The person in charge said that the reason for the end of the free breakfast was “cost pressure” such as raw material costs and distribution costs. According to the person in charge, free mornings will end at 15 stores on September 30. The following posters were posted at the end store.

“While raw material costs and distribution costs continue to soar, we have been working hard to take countermeasures, but it has become difficult to continue the free morning, and we have no choice but to decide to end it.”

Regarding the future policy of free morning, “(Regarding the high cost), there is room to consider (resuming the service) if there is an improvement in the future, but if (the situation) becomes tight, we will go a little further and increase the number of discontinued stores. I have to think about it,” he said, judging by the situation.

In addition, even at stores that continue to implement free breakfast, it is unlikely that potato service, which has been suspended since February, will be resumed due to high costs. According to the person in charge, it is difficult to continue the free potato service in order to maintain the 24-hour business system, which is expensive to operate amid soaring prices, given that the average customer spend in the Internet cafe business is 1,300 to 1,500 yen. ” explains.

On the other hand, regarding the end of the “all-you-can-use towels”, he explained that the impact on labor costs and soaring electricity bills was large because the towels were washed by store staff, not by a vendor. The future policy will be determined by looking at the situation as with the free morning.

The person in charge said, “I’m sorry” about the end of the series of services, “I know that there are many customers who have high expectations (for the service),” but the impact of the cost increase is significant, and this decision is “an unavoidable response. ‘ said.

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