From the beginning of 2020, Atria's Finnish antibiotic-free grown pork is widely available in Japan as the family restaurant chain Bikkuri Donkey has chosen it to be one ingredient of their hamburger steaks.
Bikkuri Donkey is a restaurant chain with over 300 outlets. Restaurant chain's menu concentrates mainly in hamburger steaks with Japanese and Western side dishes. The chain is a part of Aleph Inc. group.
"Under the philosophy, the Chinese character of “food” can be divided to “human” and “improve”, Aleph has decided that the procurement of hamburger steak ingredients, beef and pork, was initially based on growth-hormone free, and started to buy antibiotic-free pork from Atria. In the future, the procurement is based on antibiotic-free", restaurant chain opens their way of thinking.
"Aleph is in many ways committed to responsibly produced raw materials and sustainable actions in their everyday work. For example, traceability is a common value for Aleph and Atria and thus it has felt good to start cooperation with them", tells Tuomas Viita, Atria Finland's Sales Manager.
A practical way to make traceability visible, is to present the producers of raw materials in restaurants. Customers can get to know the route of their food from farm to fork while enjoying their meals. Aleph also cooperates with its suppliers by having regular meetings and showing the suppliers, what an importance they have to Aleph's business.
"As we start to use Atria’s pork, we expect the customer to feel the quality that comes from healthy pigs. And we continue to contribute to customer’s health", tells Aleph Inc.
Atria has been producing antibiotic-free grown chicken since 2017 and pork since 2018. In Japan, Atria cooperates with Nippon Steel Trading Corporation, who also introduced Atria's antibiotic free grown pork to Aleph Inc.