Miki Watanabe, chairman of the Watami Co. chain of discount "izakaya" (pubs), was speaking with a passion to some 5,000 shareholders and their families who came to the company's general shareholders' meeting in June.
"The food service division is struggling, but nursing is doing fantastic," he said at the Ryogoku Kokugikan sumo stadium in Tokyo. "Amid an aging society, the nursing care business is not being swayed by the economy."
Watami's nursing care unit — Rest Villa — thrives on the high-quality food nurtured by the izakaya unit and on its comfortable facilities. The company has 42 facilities and hopes to triple that to 140 by the end of fiscal 2013.