This special feature traces the hardships and turning points in the early years of アークス Chairman Yokoyama Kiyoshi, covering the hog-farming business in Hokkaido, the collapse of a contract and the shift to supermarket operations, as well as the background to the formation of the アークス Group.
Chairman Yokoyama graduated from Hokkaido University’s School of Fisheries Sciences and joined 野原産業, where he was engaged in the bulk procurement of seafood and sales to feed mills. A plan emerged to establish a pig farm raising 2,000 pigs at the company’s Hokkaido branch, but the contract with the counterparty manufacturer fell through, leaving the business unstable after the failure to formalize a verbal agreement.
The sharp decline in hog prices made it difficult to continue operating the pig farm. In these circumstances, he considered whether there was a way to secure a sales outlet and, seeking to establish a distribution channel for pork himself, chose to launch a supermarket and sell the pork through it.
This shift became the starting point for the later formation of the アークス Group. The article describes how Chairman Yokoyama rebuilt relationships with partner companies and business counterparties around the supermarket business.