European-style Beef Curry

I want convenience stores to offer a flavor similar to that of curry restaurants.

After more than 10 years of research, European-style Beef Curry emerged as an authentic product that reproduces the flavor of curry restaurants. Making beef curry at home requires a lot of work and money, whereas Beef Curry is carefully crafted through a commitment to the ingredients and processes so that customers who pick it up can experience the satisfying flavor of a curry restaurant.

In this product story, we take a look at European-style Beef Curry. We asked Mr. K about his thoughts on the product given his involvement in its development.

――What kind of product is Beef Curry, which you were involved in developing?

Beef Curry is made using French cooking techniques and is favored by Japanese people. In short, it is made by adding spices to a demi-glace sauce, and we aimed to create a product that would attract repeat customers who want to eat it again and again because of the stimulating spices.

In addition, we developed Beef Curry over many years with reference to well-established western cuisine restaurants. Specifically, we asked them about the spices and secret ingredients they use as we made repeated improvements. Although the techniques for making this curry have basically been around and remained the same for a long time, we needed to keep learning, which we did every day, in order to better approach the flavor of curry restaurants.

――Are there any points you would like us to focus on in regard to the development of Beef Curry?

As part of the curry-making process, the vegetables are usually stir-fried first, after which the meat is added and the two boiled together, but this approach tends to make the meat fall apart. For Beef Curry, we take the approach of first simmering the meat in water, wine, bouillon, and consomme, at which point we put in extra effort to carefully remove any scum. We then let the meat sit before using it together with the broth to make the sauce.

This allows the flavors to soak into the meat, and adds the umami of the meat to the curry sauce, making the taste more authentic. In addition, we use Japanese pepper and cinnamon as secret ingredients, and combine these with the rest of the ingredients in a way that makes consumers want to eat it again and again from these stimulating spices.

――Tell us about why you are able to offer delicious Beef Curry while keeping the price down?

Although the price of beef has increased greatly in the last few years, we still use a lot of beef because, after all, this is a beef curry. Purchasing is a real challenge because we need to negotiate the cost of beef, and must find inexpensive, high-quality ingredients for the curry sauce as well. After dozens of tests using a variety of ingredients, we bring our solutions to meetings. At these meetings, we carefully discuss the ratio of add ins to sauce, as well as the needs of the customers, to complete the product. These repeated daily improvements are the reason why we can offer authentic European-style Beef Curry at an affordable price.

――There are many competitors in the curry business, not only in the convenience store industry but also from restaurants that specialize in curry, so what do you focus on when you develop curry?

In order to faithfully recreate the flavor of curry restaurants, we, developers, are committed to working closely with ingredient producers and plants in a unified manner. For example, we consult with ingredient producers for suggestions on the best ingredients and have them attend production at the plants to share points of concern.

――Have you had any difficulties in sticking to your principles?

Curry is a food for which preferences vary from person to person, so we had a particularly hard time adjusting the flavor so that it would please as many people as possible. In pursuit of the ideal curry, we end up changing the flavor of the sauce, its appearance, and the size of the meat. Even after we make test products by fine-tuning such details through trial and error, various opinions get thrown around at internal review meetings. So, I also struggled when I needed to push a point that I could never concede on with this curry, while at the same time listening to various opinions and choosing what to prioritize.

――What is the value of offering Beef Curry at convenience stores?

This curry is not easy to imitate, because it contains more than 30 different spices, each in different amounts. If you tried to make the same curry at home, it would take several hours just to simmer the meat and vegetables, which means it would probably require six hours in total to complete. The fact that consumers can easily purchase and experience at home an uncompromising flavor that rivals that of curry restaurants is a major value of offering Beef Curry at convenience stores.