Japanese concrete firm serves up grey curry to put fun spin on industry
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The package features an eye-catching design showing curry sauce flowing from one of the firm’s mixer trucks onto rice on a curry plate.
PHOTO: KUWAKON/INSTAGRAM
- A Japanese concrete company created a grey curry resembling ready-mixed concrete to promote the industry with a fun twist.
- The curry, made with bamboo charcoal for the grey colour, sold over 3,500 servings and gained popularity through social media.
- The project aims to improve the industry's image, often seen as dirty and dangerous, by offering a cheerful and safe product.
AI generated
FUKUSHIMA – A concrete company in north-eastern Japan has attracted consumer attention with a quirky way to promote the industry – grey curry made to resemble ready-mixed concrete.
“We mixed in a sense of fun,” said Yoshimasa Kuwahara, the 51-year-old president of Kuwahara Concrete Industry, based in Fukushima prefecture. “I hope people pick it up, have a laugh and come away with a better image of the industry.”
In October, Kuwahara met a company producing unusually coloured retort-packed curries, including blue and pink varieties, at a trade show in Osaka prefecture, prompting the two companies to jointly develop the new product.
After repeated tasting sessions with his employees, Kuwahara completed the unconventional curry in February.
The package features an eye-catching design showing curry sauce flowing from one of the firm’s mixer trucks onto rice on a curry plate. The package also includes humorous text reading, “It cannot be hardened or used for paving.”
The initial batch of 2,000 servings quickly generated buzz through word of mouth and on social media, selling out within a month and a half. The company ordered more, and had sold over 3,500 servings by the end of June.
The curry is spicy and rich, with a mild flavour somewhere between white stew and curry, while bamboo charcoal gives it the dark grey colour of ready-mixed concrete, Kuwahara said.
“It is naturally derived, so I hope people feel safe eating it. It may not whet the appetite, but I can guarantee the taste,” Kuwahara said confidently.
Although the product, priced at 540 yen (S$4.30) per box, generates almost no profit, Kuwahara said he poured his passion into the project because he wanted to promote the industry and “provide something cheerful.”
Because the industry is often associated with “3K” workplaces – kitsui, kitanai and kiken, or physically demanding, dirty and dangerous – Kuwahara said he wants more people to think, “concrete companies are doing something fun”. KYODO NEWS