1945
1963
Postwar Recovery, Business Expansion and Diversification
A corner of the Osaka Factory cafeteria became Ri-ichi’s office. From here, the founder led his company to recovery.
Ri-ichi had lost everything in the air raids. But when he assembled his employees, he called on everyone to collaborate in the recovery effort. “All of our factories, machines, materials, and products have been burnt down, but we have the greatest asset which survived the war. It is the goodwill toward the name of ‘Glico.’”
After the way, the company began again from nothing. At first it produced hardtack in a temporary factory. Five years later, in 1950, Glico was reintroduced to the market as a nutritious candy with a small box with a toy. The following year, Bisco was revived as well. The company succeeded against competition from many new manufacturers emerging as occupation controls were abolished, and its business results recovered rapidly.
Japan went from an era when its people were struggling to feed themselves, to one in which the economy expanded at a blistering pace. From the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, Japan saw a home appliance boom in TVs and washing machines, as well as a leisure boom. The popularization of school lunches and lifestyle westernization spurred consumption of meat and dairy products. Instant foods were also introduced successively, further diversifying diets.
Ezaki Glico broadened its promotion of “Enhancing the people’s health through food,” which had been its motto from the beginning, by moving into the dairy products business. By 1962 it had established a total of six new companies across Japan, funding them jointly with dairy farming cooperatives and beginning with Glico Dairy, which it established in Saga City in September 1956. The company also entered the food materials business with Ezaki Glico Foods, established in 1956.
Ezaki Glico Foods introduced a succession of new confectionery products, including Almond Glico and Almond Chocolate, establishing a reputation as a leading almond confections producer.
This was an era when people were acquiring more leisure time, spawning a heightened interest in culture. Ezaki Glico incorporated this trend with popular promotions featuring cultural items such as paintings, stamps, and coins.
With the advent of commercial radio and television broadcasting in the early 1950s, the company was quick to add broadcast advertising to its mainstay newspaper promotion, and created a series of commercial jingles.
Japan’s economy and consumption expanded rapidly, but the uncontrolled economic development and overinvestment in equipment and facilities of the early 1960s impacted profitability and plunged Ezaki Glico into a management crisis, despite rising sales.