JAFCO : PAPABUBBLE Closes its First Business Succession Deal with Villon

May 24, 2019

PAPABUBBLE Closes its First Business Succession Deal with Villon

〜Succession of Art-Baumkuchen〜

PAPABUBBLE JAPAN (hereafter "the Company"), a world's most amusing candy store, signed a business succession contract with Sakae Otoshi, the founder of Villon Co., Ltd. ("Villon") well- known for its artistic Baumkuchen (German layer cakes).

The Company will inherit Villon's one-of-a-kind Baumkuchen recipe/ baking skills and build a management structure that allows many customers to enjoy its products even after 100 years from now.

After establishing a production system that ensures stable quality, plans are to develop new sales routes, including department stores' out-of-store sales and time-limited online sales.

With the signing of the above contract, PAPABUBBLE JAPAN HD acquired the entire shares in Villon and the Company began management participation.

Mr. Otoshi will remain as Technical Advisor to pass on his recipe and skills.

The PAPABUBBLE Group will continue to carry out capital participation to support manufacturers of exquisite sweets through business succession, business expansion and business restructuring.

【About Villon】

Villon was founded in 1965 by Mr. Otoshi, who had pattisier training at Almond (a long- established sweets/ café restaurant in Tokyo) and gained experience at a cake shop in Yokohama.

Gran Villon, an exquisitely made pot-shaped Baumkuchen originally developed by Mr. Otoshi, has a large following among politicians and celebrities as one-of-a-kind sweets.

Delicately-baked batter made with carefully selected ingredients is soft and flavorful and quickly melts in your mouth; the reason behind its slogan "Baumkuchen you can eat without

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drinking water" taken from customer remarks.

Other than Gran Villon, Villon also offers Baumkuchen pieces, chocolate, and other types of sweets at reasonable prices. It is a popular confectionery store loved by locals for many years.

http://www.villon.co.jp/ (in Japanese only)

【About PAPABUBBLE】

The Company operates Papabubble art-candy stores. Papabubble is a new style art-candy store that offers live candy-making performance that incorporates traditional candy-making techniques to entertain its customers.

The candies have the unique texture that melts in your mouth and the delicate scent of sweetness specifically designed to suit the taste of Japanese. The ingredients and the boiling temperature are adjusted to each season to create beautiful shiny surface. Delicate sense and exquisite craftmanship make the beautiful jewel-like candies.

The first store in Japan was opened in 2005 in Nakano, Tokyo. Currently, 14 stores are in operation, including in Tokyo Daimaru, Lucua Osaka and Ginza Six department stores.

In 2017, JAFCO formed a capital tie-up with the Company as part of a business succession scheme from the founder. In 2018, Satoshi Yokoi became CEO. Under the new management, it will continue to pursue its goal of becoming "the most amusing sweets store in the world."

https://www.papabubble.jp/

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