Fujiya Co. President Yasufumi Sakurai apologized Wednesday to shareholders for the confectioner's food sanitation problems that forced the suspension of operations at nearly 900 retail outlets and restaurants.
"We apologize to the shareholders from the bottom of our heart for causing enormous trouble due to the incident," Sakurai said, bowing to the shareholders at the annual general meeting.
He said that because the founding family had managed the company for all of its 97 years — until January when Sakurai took the top job — employees gave more weight to what executives said and not the customers, and waited for instructions instead of acting on their own.