Yoshinoya D&C Co. will resume sales of "gyudon" beef-on-rice dishes for the first time in 19 months -- for one day only -- around Sept. 18, company sources said Saturday.
The move comes in the wake of the government's lifting of the import ban on U.S. beef imposed due to the mad cow disease scare.
Yoshinoya, once the country's No. 1 beef bowl provider, was forced to stop sales of its most popular dish in February 2004. It sold the dishes on one day only in February 2005.
For the special event, the company will offer 1 million of the dishes at its outlets across the nation, which is roughly 20 percent more than the average daily consumption in the days before the U.S. beef ban.
Yoshinoya, which has suffered considerable damage from the protracted suspension of U.S. beef imports, will continue to limit beef bowl sales in and after October until it can secure a stable supply of U.S. beef, the sources said.