Hirosaki Toei Hotel (Hirosaki City, Dote-cho, TEL 0172-33-8111) The lunch box store "Kimuraya" opened at the parking lot celebrated its first anniversary on April 3rd.

The store that sells bento made at the hotel restaurant. “I had received orders for hors d'oeuvres, but I started wholesale as a hors d'oeuvre two years ago when I opened the store. It started as a new business for the hotel,” said Nihei Kimura, manager.

“We set up a prefabricated store in the parking lot and decided the store name from our own name,” says Kimura. Looking back on the year, ``There were days when the store couldn't sell due to the burning environment in the summer and the extreme cold in the winter, but there were customers who bought it even when the weather was bad or customers who said that it was always delicious.'' And I am happy that I like the hospitality business."

Tomotaka Furukawa, the chief of the restaurant "7th Avenue" who is in charge of bento, thinks about every weekly menu. "We try and provide good things at a reasonable price. We sometimes refer to convenience stores and major bento stores for ideas on serving and cooking," he said. "I want to create a menu that is not the norm," he shows eagerness.

There are 5 types of menus (400 yen to 600 yen) that change weekly, such as hamburger lunch and fried chicken lunch. The side menu includes potato salad (150 yen). In addition to the "Makana Idon" (starting at JPY 500) of the local restaurant "Aba" on the 1st floor of the hotel, Miso soup will be provided free of charge to customers who purchase bento.

“We made point cards at the request of customers,” says Kimura. There are queues before the store opens, so he smiles, "I would like to go ahead and increase the number of stores to one or two, but first of all, I would like to continue to be a bento store that pleases the local people." "If we could naturally develop the reputation of "that bento restaurant" in Hirosaki," he said.

Business hours are from 11:30 to 13:30. Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.