Watami is a Japanese business group known for its izakaya restaurants.
Miki Watami first opened an izakaya resturant under the Tsubohachi franchise in 1984. He later opened his own brand, Watami in 1992, operating under the concept of "family izakaya" instead of "pub izakaya", and converted the Tsubohachi branches under his operation into Watami branches. In 2007, Watami had about 625 outlets under nine izakaya and restaurant brands globally.[1]
Watami is also involved in other businesses such as farming and eldercare. In 2002, it set up Watami Farming to provide its restaurants with organic vegetables at low cost as the market price of organic vegetables were eating into its profit margin.[1] It established its healthcare interest in 2004 and by 2007, Watami ran 25 nursing homes.[2]