CTC HINARI to Open a Cafe at the Minato City Azabu Regional City Office

CTC HINARI Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Miwako Shiba, President; hereinafter “HINARI”), a subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (hereinafter “CTC”) to promote employment of persons with disabilities, will open a cafe “HINARI CAFE Azabu” on the second floor of the Minato City Azabu Regional City Office (location: 16-45, Roppongi 5-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo) on September 12, 2024.

Since its establishment in 2010, HINARI has been a workplace where employees with disabilities and those who support them grow together to provide services for office workers such as massage services for employees and cleaning services in the CTC Group company offices, as well as services as part of agriculture-welfare cooperation initiatives such as contract farming work in partnership with farmers. We have been operating “HINARI CAFE”, a cafe for the CTC Group employees in its headquarters building since 2021, providing a place for them to interact with each other. “HINARI CAFE Azabu” will be the first cafe we operate outside the building.

The Minato City Azabu Regional City Office is a 7-minute walk from Roppongi Station, and is visited by residents of various ages and nationalities in the ward for administrative procedures and consultations because of its location. “HINARI CAFE Azabu” will cater to those ward residents and regional office workers, and is an open atmosphere cafe with pleasant natural light and greenery visible through the windows.

Our menu items include “coffee” blended by HINARI employees under the supervision of Micafeto Co., Ltd., which pursues the highest quality coffee in the world, “Japanese black tea” known as “Wakocha” with slight sweet flavor, and “bento boxes” made with fresh regional vegetables from inakadeliko^*.

Since the customers who visit the cafe, service procedures, and equipment are different from those at the CTC headquarters cafe, we have had our staff members practice the procedures repeatedly to ensure smooth operations. In late July 2024, we pre-opened the cafe to serve the regional office workers and have been trying to identify issues and improve services since then.

Through catering at HINARI CAFE Azabu, we aim to interact with the local community and to foster a sense of job satisfaction and self-fulfillment of our employees with disabilities so that they can play a bigger role in our society. Going forward, we will consider offering products using produces and processed products mainly from cooperating farmers in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, with which we have a close relationship thanks to the agriculture-welfare cooperation initiatives.