ABOUT
ITO EN
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BUSINESS OVERVIEW
MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE
“ALWAYS PUTTING
THE CUSTOMER FIRST”ITO EN believes that valuing all
customers is the basis for management.
ITO EN's definition of customers includes consumers, shareholders, retailers, suppliers, financial institutions and local communities. ITO EN believes that all parties that are involved with the ITO EN Group are customers and believes that earnestly handling customer feedback and requests and always putting ourselves in our customers shoes is fundamental to management. Going forward, we will thoroughly implement our management principle, "Always putting the customer first," considering the impact on the customer at every turn, as we continue to pursue new possibilities and take on new challenges.
OUR BUSINESS
The ITO EN Group aims to contribute to the health of its customers around the world, helping every individual to enjoy a fulfilling lifestyle, with a focus on tea, which is an essential part of Japanese culture, guided by our management principle, "Always putting the customer first."
TEA LEAVES AND
BEVERAGES BUSINESS
ITO EN works to develop products that will constantly delight our customers and to offer customer-oriented services, based on the five concepts for product development: natural, healthy, safe, well-designed and delicious.
RESTAURANT
BUSINESS
ITO EN operates a specialty coffee shop chain in Japan under the Tully's Coffee brand, which originated in Seattle, USA, guided by the "serving communities" concept.
OTHERS
BUSINESS
We manufacture and sell vitamins and other supplements which support healthy living, primarily in North America.
CORPORATE HISTORY
1966
ELIMINATING CUSTOMER DISSATISFACTION
WITH INNOVATIVE PACKAGED TEA
The founding of Japan Family Service, the origins of ITO EN, in 1964, was followed in 1966 by the establishment of the Frontier Tea Corporation, ITO EN’s predecessor. At the time, tea was sold in a limited number of specialty stores, primarily by weight, and customers would have to visit these stores to buy their tea. To make tea more readily available for purchase, the company developed a method of packaging tea leaves in smaller quantities. Packaged tea made it possible to sell tea at supermarkets and grocery stores, eliminating customer complaints about the inconvenience of only being able to purchase tea at specialty stores. After the company name was changed to ITO EN in 1969, it became a driving influence on the tea industry with breakthrough methods for preserving the freshness of tea leaves through vacuum processing and double packaging.
double-packaged tea launched in 1969
1984
INVENTION OF THE WORLD'S FIRST CANNED SENCHA (GREEN TEA) BEVERAGE
In Japan in the 1970s, the appearance of fast food and convenience stores brought about the rapid diversification, simplification and Westernization of beverages. This made it necessary to improve the matching of green tea to the needs of times. ITO EN started developing canned green tea because we wanted people to enjoy delicious green tea anytime and anywhere. Over about 10 years, ITO EN created approximately 67,200 prototypes. Through this process, in 1984 ITO EN developed the world's first canned green tea, which preserves the tea's aroma and brings out its natural green color.
(product launched in 1985).
1989
LAUNCH OF THE OI OCHA BRAND AND THE WORLD'S FIRST GREEN TEA IN PET PLASTIC BOTTLES
An ITO EN commercial broadcast in Japan at the time used the colloquial phrase, “Oi ocha.” It had a nice ring to it and conveyed a sense of comfort and a homelike environment, so in 1989, looking to take the next leap forward following the launch of its canned green tea, ITO EN decided to change the product’s name to Oi Ocha. Also, since bamboo had been used as water containers since ancient times, the image of bamboo was incorporated into the overall container design, which was given a bamboo pattern. ITO EN also decided that PET bottles would become the mainstream beverage container, and began considering the commercialization of Oi Ocha in PET bottles. Sediment, known as ori, became an issue in the product’s development. Sediment appears in large amounts within two to three days of green tea extraction, as components in the tea precipitate as floating particles. While not harmful to the body, it can look unpleasant in clear plastic bottles, and can cause some loss of flavor. ITO EN developed its Natural Clear production method after researching ways to maintain aroma and flavor while removing this sediment. Having established this technology, the company launched the world's first green tea in a PET plastic bottle in 1990.
2016
SELECTED TO BE ONE OF FORTUNE'S 50 COMPANIES THAT ARE CHANGING THE WORLD (SEPTEMBER 2016 ISSUE)
Business magazine Fortune selected ITO EN to be one of their 50 Companies That Are Changing the World in their September 1, 2016 issue. ITO EN was put in 18th place, making it the highest-ranking of the two Japanese companies featured in the list. The 50 Companies That Are Changing the World ranking began in 2015, and 2016 was the second year of this list. In compiling the ranking, Fortune selects companies in various fields from countries around the world that have resolved social issues through their businesses and linked those solutions to real business results.
2019
OI OCHA BRAND ACHIEVES
GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™
Largest natural healthy RTD green tea brand — retail RSP, current (January to December 2018)
WE CONTINUE TO TAKE ON NEW CHALLENGES.