A customer’s miso soup came with an unexpected ‘extra topping’ — and investors weren’t lovin’ it.
Shares of Zensho Holdings, the company behind popular Japanese restaurant chain Sukiya, took a sharp dip of up to 7.1% — the biggest drop since 13 Feb — after the company confirmed that a dead rodent was found inside a bowl of miso soup.
According to Bloomberg and The Japan Times, the incident happened at one of Sukiya’s branches in Tottori Prefecture on , while meals were being prepped.
Unfortunately, the rodent managed to make its way into the soup undetected, and was later served to a customer.
In a statement released on 22 Mar, the chain admitted that its staff had “failed to notice” the contamination during preparation and apologised for not coming clean about the situation earlier.
Sukiya also promised to step up hygiene protocols across its nearly 2,000 branches nationwide.
Zensho’s shares had been climbing recently due to optimism over profit gains from price hikes, with stocks up around 25% in the past year, outperforming the Topix index — until this rodent mishap stirred the pot.
