Yoshinoya Holdings is the Japanese restaurant group behind the Yoshinoya beef-bowl chain and Hanamaru Udon. Its shareholder vouchers also reach selected ramen and other restaurant brands within the group.
What you get
These paper vouchers pay towards meals at Yoshinoya and other group restaurant brands. Each voucher is worth ¥500, and unused value on a voucher is not returned as change.
Yoshinoya gives holders of 100–199 shares four ¥500 meal vouchers at each of two annual record dates. The allocation rises to ten vouchers at 200 shares, twelve at 1,000 shares and twenty-four at 2,000 shares. Use them at participating Yoshinoya, Hanamaru Udon and other group restaurants in Japan.
What it takes
You need at least 100 Yoshinoya Holdings shares listed in Tokyo (9861). Ownership date: Yoshinoya counts your holding separately on the last day of February and on 31 August each year.
100–199 shares
- Meal vouchers: ¥2,000 in vouchers 4 vouchers of ¥500 per issue, twice a year.
200–999 shares
- Meal vouchers: ¥5,000 in vouchers 10 vouchers of ¥500 per issue, twice a year.
1,000–1,999 shares
- Meal vouchers: ¥6,000 in vouchers 12 vouchers of ¥500 per issue, twice a year.
2,000 shares or more
2,000+ shares
- Meal vouchers: ¥12,000 in vouchers 24 vouchers of ¥500 per issue, twice a year.
Before buyingA perk is a minor benefit of owning a share, not a reason to buy one. Share prices fall as well as rise, and dealing costs, spreads and tax can exceed a perk’s value. Read about the risks.
Holding through a broker
Shares must be registered in your own name.
Yoshinoya sends vouchers to qualifying names on its shareholder register. Its public terms do not confirm an overseas pooled-nominee or foreign-address route. Ask your broker whether your holding is recorded and whether it delivers the vouchers; we have not tested its service.
Yoshinoya Holdings does not say whether overseas shareholders can claim.
Other conditions
- Where the benefit applies
- Participating group restaurants in Japan
- Included brands
- Yoshinoya; Hanamaru Udon; Kirameki no Tori
How to claim
Yoshinoya establishes entitlement from its shareholder records. Present the paper vouchers at a participating restaurant.
- 1. Receive your vouchersYoshinoya posts vouchers after the qualifying February or August register. Keep your address current through your securities company.
- 2. Check the branchUse the group store finder to confirm that the restaurant accepts shareholder vouchers. Some racecourse, boat-racing and temporary locations do not.
- 3. Present the vouchers when payingYou can use several vouchers for one bill, but Yoshinoya gives no change when the vouchers cover the whole payment. At restaurants run by Kirameki no Mirai, the company behind Kirameki no Tori, two vouchers buy one ramen of your choice.
Exclusions and limits
Excluded: The programme covers participating restaurants in Japan, not the group’s overseas restaurants; Some locations do not accept shareholder vouchers; Vouchers used to cover the full bill do not produce change.
Dates
The published terms do not say how long you must hold the shares.
- Qualifying date
- Yoshinoya counts your holding separately on the last day of February and on 31 August each year.
- Benefit issued
- Early May for the February register and mid-November for the August register.
- Expiry
- May mailings expire at the end of May the following year; November mailings expire at the end of November the following year.
Practical notes
Sale prices and service coupons can combine
The vouchers remain usable during discount sales and can combine with service coupons distributed by the restaurant. All menu items qualify, subject to their normal serving hours.
Product exchanges have a separate window
The issuer allows holders of at least 200 shares to exchange vouchers for a product set under the instructions it sends. Its page says the exchange period has ended and does not say whether or when another will open.
Company story
From the Nihonbashi fish market
Yoshinoya began in 1899 as an independent shop at the fish market in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Its second restaurant did not open until 1968, in Shinbashi, as the company began building a chain.
Yoshinoya bought shares in Hanamaru in 2004 and made it a wholly owned subsidiary in 2012. That is why a Yoshinoya shareholder’s meal voucher can now buy udon as well as a meal at the original beef-bowl chain.
Sources: Yoshinoya domestic history ; Yoshinoya voucher participating brands