Background of the collaboration This collaboration was realized at a social gathering held in the fall of 2022. At that meeting, the people involved in the JRESC and JRCP discussed the possibility of jointly developing ice cream. The idea of joint development of ice cream was discussed between the JRESC and JRCP officials. Sujata’s “Premium Ice Cream,” sold on Shinkansen trains, is famous as “#Sinkansengoikatai ice cream” because of its hardness. The regular product is the standard vanilla, but by adding limited-time-only items to it, the company has created a new pleasure. At one time, the Shinkansen trains were deserted because of the new Corona, which prompted people to refrain from traveling across prefectures. Recently, however, the number of passengers has completely returned. This has led to an increase in the use of in-train vending services. Coffee and ice cream are the standard items sold on the train. The two companies’ partnership would expand sales channels and increase production, which would lead to a wider appeal and price advantage. In addition, from the standpoint of a railroad operator, “revitalization of rail lines” is an indispensable issue. From this perspective, it is a natural development to feature local specialties in the company’s own area. In this case, the ice cream flavor is a specialty of XX prefecture. This time, the themes of “evoking the image of eastern Japan” and “summer seasonality” were chosen. Of course, not a single candidate was suddenly selected and discussed, but a variety of candidates were raised. For example, Fukushima Prefecture is known for its delicious peaches, Yamagata Prefecture for its cherries, and Aomori Prefecture for its apples. However, even if each prefecture has its own specialty fruit, if it overlaps with another region, its impact will be diminished. Therefore, the “zunda” was selected from among various candidates.
It is not easy to introduce a new product to the market. However, there are various issues that must be cleared when commercializing a product as a business and putting it on the market. It is not as simple as saying, “This flavor looks interesting or tastes good, so let’s go with it. For limited-time-only products, unique products that are different in taste from regular products are required. However, it is not good if the product is accepted only by a few people. The product must be unique, yet acceptable to many people. There is also the requirement that the product can be manufactured using existing factory facilities and that the quality of the product can be maintained consistently. And of course, a stable supply of raw materials is essential. In this respect, the Sujata Meiraku Group’s strength lies in the fact that it has built a system that allows it to complete all processes from procurement of raw materials to manufacturing and sales within the group. With this in mind, they decided on Zunda Ice Cream. In this collaboration, crew members from JRESC and JRCP, who are actually on the front lines of in-train sales, participated in a lively exchange of opinions on the selection and sales of the product.
© Source travel watch