Cainz turns misshapen vegetables and tofu byproduct into ¥100-¥598 products across 35 stores
Japan's largest home-centre chain is putting a line of foods made from misshapen vegetables and manufacturing byproducts directly onto 35 store floors nationwide — a floor-level bet on food waste, priced from ¥100 to ¥598, not an abstract sustainability pledge.
Cainz, Japan's largest home-centre chain, said it has started a project called "MOTTAI" that turns misshapen vegetables and food-manufacturing byproducts into retail products, with the first items reaching 35 of its stores nationwide from October 19, according to an October 5 announcement.
The opening product is a three-variety curry line (¥598), developed with Ishii Foods from organic vegetables grown in Chiba that had gone unsold because of their shape, size or colour, the company said, adding that the curry contains no food additives. Two more items follow in December: a ¥100 sponge cake made with okara, the soy pulp left over from tofu production, and a ¥598 dressing made from off-grade onions sourced in Shirako, a town in Chiba prefecture known for the vegetable. The rollout spans stores from Sendai in the north to Nagoya in the west, by way of Utsunomiya, Chiba and Tokyo.
Putting a byproduct line directly on 35 shop floors, rather than issuing a sustainability pledge, is the more concrete test: it asks shoppers to pay for food that would otherwise have gone to waste, with prices running from ¥100 to ¥598. For a home-centre chain, MOTTAI is also a bid to use food, rather than DIY goods, to draw shoppers into its stores.
Cainz said it hopes the line will turn routine shopping trips into a chance for customers to learn about the regional and social issues behind the products. Whether demand holds at full price once the December items reach shelves, or whether the project stays confined to its first 35 stores, is the test to watch.