Fast-food chain operator Yoshinoya D&C Co. said Tuesday it and Shanghai's Xinya group will launch a joint venture early next month to run a "gyudon" restaurant chain.
To be capitalized at $2.1 million, Shanghai Yoshinoya Fast Foods Co. will be owned 50 percent by Yoshinoya, 40 percent by Xinya and 10 percent by a local unit of Japan's major trading house Mitsui & Co., Yoshinoya said in a release.
Xinya groups companies engaged in food-processing, hotel and restaurant management, taxi operations and travel arrangements.
The new company will open the first outlet in Shanghai around July and hopes to open 15 outlets mainly in the Chinese city within five years, it said.
Yoshinoya now runs a total of 18 gyudon-serving outlets in three major Chinese cities -- Beijing, Dalian and Shenyang. It also operates eight outlets in Hong Kong.
Gyudon is a bowl of rice topped with seasoned beef.