Duskin Co., operator of the U.S.-founded Mister Donut chain, will invest about ¥200 million ($1.6 million) to open a museum in Osaka Prefecture this fall that will allow visitors to experience making doughnuts.
The company says the Duskin Museum in the city of Suita, where Duskin is based, is expected to draw 60,000 visitors annually, benefiting from a tourism boom in Japan that is attracting a record number of foreign visitors due to relaxed visa requirements and the weak yen.
Factory tours organized by major food and beverage companies are popular among both Japanese and foreign tourists, including programs offered by Ezaki Glico Co., the maker of popular biscuit sticks Pocky, and Suntory Holdings Ltd., which has opened its Yamazaki Distillery to visitors.
Duskin is renovating a training facility to use as the museum, which will also introduce to visitors the company's house-cleaning services.
"We would like to develop new customers" with the museum, said an official of Duskin, whose businesses range from food service to rental of cleaning equipment.