Yoshinoya D&C Co., which used to be the country's largest "gyudon" chain before U.S. beef was banned a year ago, said Monday it returned to profitability during the three months ended Nov. 30.

The chain, which operates more than 1,000 outlets, said it posted 573 million yen in operating profit during the quarter, following two consecutive quarterly losses caused by the suspension of its mainstay boiled beef-on-rice bowls in February.

The company, dependent on the United States for almost all of the 30,000 tons of beef it was using every year, has been struggling since U.S. beef was banned after the discovery of the country's first case of mad cow disease.

To fill the vacuum created by the absence of its main menu item, the company has introduced a variety of items, including pork bowls and spicy grilled beef bowls that make use of imported meat from Australia.

Yet none has since matched the popularity of gyudon, a dish Yoshinoya says can only be made properly with U.S. beef.

In the third quarter, the chain continued to see sharp drops in year-on-year sales at stores open at least 13 months, with September sales down 31 percent, October down 38 percent, and November down 35 percent.

But the company was able to post an operating profit for the period thanks to various cost-cutting measures, it said.

"I think we have done a good job," Yoshinoya President Shuji Abe told a news conference when asked about his company's progress during the year.

"It was like starting a completely new business, since we had been serving only gyudon."

Abe said he expected the ban to be lifted in the first three months of 2004, but now he is trying not to raise expectations that U.S. beef will return to its eateries anytime soon.