Hotel group ensures fish supply by buying trout farm
A Japanese trout farm that was facing possible closure has been bought by a customer that uses the fish for a meal it has served for more than 100 years.
Kiyotaki Trout Farm had struggled to find a new owner after the death of its founder, so a local business support organisation brokered a takeover by Kanaya Hotel, operator of the historic Nikko Kanaya Hotel, reports the Nikkei Asian Review.
Expand sales network
The farm was founded in 1960 and produces about 15 tonnes of trout a year, which it supplies to around 40 local hotels and restaurants. The Nikko Kanaya Hotel, situated close to a national park around 100 miles north of Tokyo, is the farm’s biggest customer and prepares the fish in a sauté that it has served for more than a century.
“The local community will suffer if the trout farm shuts its doors,” said Masaki Hirano, who is president of both Kanaya Hotel and Kiyotaki Trout Farm.
“I want to expand its sales network and line-up by tapping into the Tobu Group,” he told Nikkei Asian Review, referring to Kanaya Hotel’s parent group.
