Enhancing the Business Base and Promoting BCPs
B-R 31 Ice Cream Co., Ltd.

B-R 31 Ice Cream Co., Ltd. is a franchise
chain that manufactures and distributes
ice cream products. With a network of
1,180 stores (as of the end of August2015), the company built Kobe Miki
Plant in Hyogo Media Garden City (MikiCity, Hyogo Prefecture) in December
2014 as their new production base. Thefactory launched full-scale operations
this March.

Responding to the Increased
Number of Stores
The initials in the company name, B-R 31
Ice Cream, stands for Baskin-Robbins,
the world’s largest chain of ice creamspecialty stores. In Japan, B-R 31 Ice
Cream Co., Ltd. used to manufacture
products solely at its Fuji Oyama Plant(Oyama-cho, Sunto-gun, Shizuoka Prefecture), which started operations 36 years
ago in 1979. However, the company
was urged to reinforce its production
base to keep up with the increasing
number of stores, and it was also imperative to establish a new plant from theperspective of BCPs.

Decisive Factors: Securement ofQuality Water and Solid GroundIn 2010, the company started a project
to construct a new plant. The screeningof construction sites was proceededwith in accordance with three criteria:
1. good access to and from highways,
2. ﬁrm ground, and 3. a location with asupply of quality water.
With cooperation from Hyogo-Kobe
Investment Support Center, the company
obtained 35 potential location proposals.
Of these, they conducted on-site inspections of 28 candidate sites and ﬁnallychose Hyogo Media Garden City as its
new plant location. Mr. Yoshito Takagi,
Managing Executive Oﬃcer of B-R 31
Ice Cream Co., Ltd., recalls that theyreceived a good impression of the placewhen they visited it as their secondcandidate site.
Hyogo Media Garden City has goodtraﬃc accessibility and is able to secure
good quality water. This has been provenby a beverage manufacturer’s decision
to also launch operations there. The
site’s solid ground was also conﬁrmedby the fact that the Miki Disaster
Management Park is located adjacent
to it. On top of that, it has an excellent
cityscape because power transmission
cables are installed underground. All
these conditions fulﬁlled the company’s
requirements for a new plant setting.

Careful Consideration of“Environments”
The main purpose of building a new plant
was to keep up with the supply needsof stores. However, the company also
directed attention to ensuring an environment in which employees can worksafely while maintaining a high level ofmotivation. This is because, as Mr. Takagi
said, a pleasant workplace is directly

connected to improvement of productquality. The company’s attention is not
only focused on a comfortable working
environment, but on the natural environment as well. They take measures toprotect the environment by treating
wastewater through jet stream typeozone treatment and saving electricity
through the installment of motion sensors
in the factory.

From Kobe Miki Plant toStore Shelves
The Kobe Miki Plant of B-R 31 Ice Creamhas a tub production line and a productdecoration line. Ice cream is poured intocylindrical containers, i.e. tubs, to be
displayed for sale at stores. While thetub production line is automated, on theproduct decoration line, workers skilled
in decoration work manually. Products
made through this process at Kobe MikiPlant are currently for stores mainly inthe central and west Japan districts.

B-R 31 Ice Cream Co., Ltd.
Locations:(Headquarters)
Meguro Center Building, 3-2-1 Kamiosaki,
Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo(Kobe Miki Plant)
Hyogo Media Garden City, Shijimi-cho,
Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture
President and Representative Director:
Hiroaki WatanabeBusiness:
Production and sales of ice cream products
URL：http://www.31ice.co.jp/

http://www.hyogo-kobe.jp/

One-Stop Service Supporting Domestic andForeign Companies’ Expansion into Hyogo
Hyogo-Kobe Investment Support Center
The Hyogo-Kobe Investment Support Center helps domestic and foreign businesses seeking to expand their business in Hyogo Prefectureby providing information on business locations in response to their requests. We also provide foreign companies andforeign-capital-aﬃliated companies with information regarding the necessary procedures or requirements for launching a business in Japan.

Hyogo-Kobe Investment Support Center

One-Stop Services
Services for Domestic Businesses

Services for Foreign Companies/
Foreign-Capital-Aﬃliated Companies●Providing information on industrial premises●Free consultation services by experts●Providing relevant information●Providing information on ﬁling procedures for licenses●On-site tours●Providing support in establishing a business center

Information on industrial premises including industrial
complexes, suitable sites for factories, former factory
sites, idle land, and sites for R&D facilities
Information relating to receiving favorable treatment
including subsidies; information on the current state ofinfrastructure, etc.
Liaison service with business (commissioned) partners inresponse to requests; arranging on-site tours

Consultation services by professionals on the administrative procedures required when starting a business; otherrelevant consultation services by experts
Information on incorporation, business registration, license
application, working visas, and other administrative procedures necessary for starting a businessInformation regarding oﬃce or laboratory locations, industrialsites, receiving favorable treatment, and other mattersrelating to establishing a business center

Contact Point in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area
In addition to our Kobe Oﬃce, wehave an oﬃce in Tokyo, the“Hyogo-Kobe Business Support
Center in Tokyo.” It is available toassist domestic and foreign companies seeking to launch a businessin Hyogo Prefecture, providing themwith detailed consultation services
in response to their requirements.
(Please see the heading above forcontact details.)

Kobe Office

Tokyo OfficeGeographical Conditions of Hyogo PrefectureWith a vast land area stretching from the Sea of Japan to the Paciﬁc Ocean through the Seto Inland Sea, Hyogo Prefecture boasts
excellent and comprehensive transportation networks covering land, sea, and air.

●Air access / Train networks

Kobe Airport and Osaka International Airport in Hyogo Prefecture oﬀer direct ﬂights to some 25 domestic destinations. Kansai International Airport, located adjacent to the prefecture, oﬀers direct ﬂights to some 70 overseas destinations in about 30 countries worldwide.
Tokyo is easily reached in 2 hours and 50 minutes by the Shinkansen bullet train.

●Roadway networks / Ports

Expressways throughout the prefecture enable easy access to the Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku and other regions of the country. Hyogo
Prefecture is also home to seaports including the Port of Kobe, which is one of the largest trading ports in Japan.

http://www.hyogo-kobe.jp/