Yoshinoya D&C Co. will put its signature "gyudon" beef-on-rice dish back on the menu within six weeks once Japan lifts its ban on U.S. beef imports, restaurant chain President Shuji Abe told a news conference Friday.
The government is now moving toward lifting the ban as early as December. It was initiated in December 2003 after the first mad cow case was discovered in the United States, as early as December.
Once the nation's No. 1 gyudon chain, the firm said Friday its group posted a net loss of 467 million yen in the March-August first half of the business year due to the U.S. beef import ban.
Yoshinoya has projected for the entire business year a net loss of 500 million yen and pretax profit of 1.7 billion yen on projected sales of 122.6 billion yen.
Its full-year performance could improve if Japan lifts the beef ban.
Yoshinoya saw its first red ink in 24 years in the 2004 business year, with a net loss of 758 million yen due to the import ban, even though it had secured 1.93 billion yen in profit in the first six months.