Disclaimer: The content on this website is for informational and educational purposes only and is not created to meet your personal financial situation. Nothing should be considered as investment advice or as a guarantee of profit. You are advised to consult with your financial advisors to discuss your investment options and whether it would be a suitable investment for your personal needs. The information used in this publication is from sources that are believed to be reliable but the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. It may include some errors, please make sure to do your due diligence. The opinions expressed are those of the author and the author only. These opinions are subject to change without prior notice. Disclosure: The author owns shares in companies mentioned in this article as of 14 Feb 2026. The security could be sold at any point in time without prior notice Hello! I recently shared a thread on X on a company I decided to take a small stake in. It might surprise you, but it’s a Japan-born Italian Restaurant chain, called Saizeriya (Ticker: 7581). I know, I understand you’re mad just by reading this, but hear me out. This innocent-sounding business has a lot going for it, and it’s been a hero for Japanese consumers. Yet at the same time, it’s the exact kind of idea that consumers might take for granted and underestimate. Also understandably, this may be harder to grasp if you don’t live in a country with Saizeriya. All I can say is that I’m pretty sure your meal there can be expensed for “R&D purposes”. It’s so cheap anyway!
It’s one of those rare occasions I’m not betting on the stock to double in 2-3 years, which is my usual aim when I look for ideas, but the kind that I might end up holding for many years. (i.e. I have no idea where it’ll go in the short term). To my surprise, the thread got way more attention than I initially imagined. A friend complained that the thread was so long it may as well be a write-up. lol. For your convenience, I thought I’d share the content here too (with some added visual aid!) [Here’s the link] to the actual post where you’ll also find some funny/insightful commentary from others. Think of it as a preview of a business I will write more extensively on in the near future. The thread doesn’t quite capture the full extent of what a special/interesting business Saizeriya is, and there is just a lot more to unpack. I look forward to sharing that with you soon. -Thread- So... sounds like a joke, but last week I started a small position in Saizeriya. 1/If you come to think of it, it's actually quite insane how they've kept prices so low when everyone is raising prices. So I was shocked to see they even make money at all! I ended up deeep in the rabbit hole to understand their competitive advantage. 2/For lack of a better term this is 'Scale Economies Shared' as Nick Sleep says. Trite, but that's what it is. Over the years, I've tried to find the next "Costco of Japan" as an investment and came to the conclusion that: Costco of Japan is just Costco. (although theres Kobe Bussan but not quite it) 3/So imagine my surprise to find the answer in everybody's favourite Japanese Italian Restaurant Chain. If you haven't been, for the price their quality of food is unmatched. (as a stock, I was mentally just thinking, Italian food retail, meh, pass). 4/In reality, I think it's going to cost billions and billions of dollars to replicate what Saizeriya has been able to build up over the last 5 decades 5/Saizeriya is the people's champ, supporting Japanese families, students, anyone really, for decades. You won't be able to find food of this quality for $2-3 USD a plate in any other developed economy. Yet they're profitable and continuing to grow double digits. There's really 2 elements: Cost advantage + Quality
6/The cost advantage isn't just one thing, like Amazon or Costco. it's doing a thousand small things right to operate a restaurant chain with an industrial level of efficiency without compromising on quality. They've really thought in first principles and really went up the supply chain to rethink cost AND quality. The extent they are going to do this is impressive. 7/To the point they have their own factories as a comissary model which makes key ingredients for some of their best sellers. This is part of the reason why their quality is so high. They have a factory in Australia to make Béchamel for their Doria (an 'Italian' rice dish, but originates from Japan), which is Saizeriya's best seller. I'd say this is the equivalent of Costco’s hot dog, it's remained at the same price. Additionally, they've built FARMS to create a scalable/sustainable supplier that meets their quality standards. They even developed their own strain of vegetables, like for lettuce specifically to suit their dishes - i.e. leading to improved quality. There are lots more details that I took for granted but impressed me.
8/ Scale also begets scale, and another reason their quality is so high is that they're able to source high-quality olive oil, wine, cheese and other produce straight from Italy at an incredibly low unit cost due to the massive order lots - to the point local restaurants in Italy may be paying up more for some of these! Most others simply can't order this quantity. As an aside, because customers use so much olive oil, they can keep buying fresh batches and the quality stays high!
9/A barrier to entry is its capacity to suffer. Depending on the country, Saize's price point is aiming to be 40% cheaper or more than the average 'affordable' restaurant. Most restaurants will go bankrupt if they try that. Saizeriya can because they have the resources, scale + infrastructure. Even cunning and entrepreneurial Chinese copycats tried and failed. 10/The hard part isn't simply cutting costs. That's easy. It's reducing costs without compromising on quality and scalability. To be able to balance all three is really, really hard to do. Especially in a highly competitive industry like food retail. 11/So it's the Low price X Quality that really makes it a special enterprise. You've probably seen your local saizeirya often buzzing with people - that’s the reason. 12/They have 0 marketing costs. Instead, all of this goes into investing in quality or cost savings, which are passed onto customers. Mind-blowing is that the founders’ most important KPI isn't sales, its just the total number of customers. 13/The amazing thing is that this creates devout fans who do the marketing for them. You’ve seen @CacheThatCheque wax poetic about Saizeriya. This is not an accident. Theres countless users on Japanese social media - posting fun ways to enjoy Saize and even sharing ways to ‘create your own dish’ by combining multiple dishes!
14/This includes chef YouTubers- some of them highly known and experienced in Michelin-star restaurants. They rave about Saizeriya's quality. So don't listen to what I think but listen to them! 15/There's even "saizeriya police" i.e. fans who call out people who unknowingly call it "Saizeria" （サイゼリア）and not "Saizeriya" (サイゼリヤ) 16/There was a time when the CEO would go on Japanese TV shows, but he stopped. The reason? this lead to too many customers visiting Saizeriya and overwhelming their staff. They'd rather have steady organic growth simply through serving good food. No gimmicks, period. 17/I should add the Founder (now Chairman) Shogaki-san has shades of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart (ticker: WMT). Remember how SW would study competitors so closely he even brought a measuring tape to measure the shelves of a grocer in Brazil? In Shogaki-san's own biography he described how he would enter some of the most successful restaurant chains in the world with a 400-point checklist and study in meticulous detail why they're so successful. This included studying companies like McDonald's and the chains you're all familiar with. 18/he's actually one of the most impressive Founders I've come across who's been focused on ROI on each store opening i.e. capital concious. Beyond that, he understands what it means to run an organisation, what drives people and what he's lacking. This is why he's more than happy to give away the CEO seat to someone who he felt was more capable. 19/Valuation-wise, it's at an all time high now, which makes me psychologically uncomfortable, but I'm starting small. It's also not that expensive compared to other food retail concepts in Japan. Whilst I'm looking for doubles in 2-3 years, this is one of the rare allocations where I have no thoughts on where this will go in the next 2-3 years or if there is a catalyst. But I'm looking to hold for a long time and hopefully, volatility will provide some opportunities to add here and there. 20/this is also part of my inflation beneficiary theme, which is a key theme I'm betting on this year. Counterintuitively, they're not raising prices, probably the only few that aren't but that's exactly the reason why more customer demand exploding. As they have always been, they're the people's champ. 21/Saizeriya's main competitors aren't really other food retail chains at this point.. it's Kombini's (convenience stores) and housewives but even then, there's a lot going for Saizeriya. To put into context, your onigiri at Famima may cost ~¥200 or so these days... 22/There's so much details that're worth discussing on the founder, hidden growth opportunities, the culture and how they've achieved this wonderful thing I didn't include here so hopefully it won't be too long before I publish a case study on it soon. 23/In a way, this is one of the most anti- Made in Japan businesses. That's been a deliberate choice. Abroad, they intentionally don't advertise as an Italian Restaurant from Japan. There's a funny story that in China, when people were protesting against Japan a decade ago, on their way home, they ate at Saizeriya and their sales BOOMED. LOL. 24/Finally, for the non-Japanese followers, If you happen to be visiting Japan, do give it a try. Long live Saizeriya. Disclaimer: The content on this website is for informational and educational purposes only and is not created to meet your personal financial situation. Nothing should be considered as investment advice or as a guarantee of profit. You are advised to consult with your financial advisors to discuss your investment options and whether it would be a suitable investment for your personal needs. The information used in this publication is from sources that are believed to be reliable but the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. It may include some errors, please make sure to do your due diligence. The opinions expressed are those of the author and the author only. These opinions are subject to change without prior notice. Disclosure: The author owns shares in companies mentioned in this article as of 14 Feb 2026. The security could be sold at any point in time without prior notice You’re currently a free subscriber to Made In Japan. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. Your support will help the continuity of new ideas and content!
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Saturday, February 14, 2026
Saizeriyans at the Gate
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