CITRUS Japan

What CITRUS Japan does

CITRUS Japan (株式会社シトラス) is a privately-held Japanese corporation headquartered in Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, with a secondary office in Watanabe-dori, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka. The company operates a diversified portfolio of eight business lines rather than a single integrated product: consulting, advertising (operating as an authorized agency for Tabelog/食べログ paid store-member services), print design, outsourced DM and event-communications execution, a directly-operated yakiniku restaurant ("Hormon Yakiniku Sho" near Sangenjaya station), residential and commercial real estate brokerage, a dedicated business divestiture/sale line, and M&A advisory. Paid-in capital stands at ¥10,000,000, the firm is led by founder-CEO Noguchi Shoichiro (who came from a major Japanese consulting firm), and headcount is in the 11–50 range. The company has no proprietary technology platform; service delivery relies on the Tabelog ecosystem, standard consulting and design workflows, and traditional restaurant and real estate operations.

Revenue mechanics are hybrid. Project-based professional services fees are generated from consulting, design, and outsourced DM execution; transaction-based commissions flow from Tabelog agency sales, real estate brokerage, business divestiture, and M&A advisory; and direct hardware-style revenue comes from food and beverage sales at the Sangenjaya yakiniku restaurant. The primary customer segment is Japanese restaurants and food-service operators served through telephone-based outbound inside sales (driven largely from the Fukuoka office), with secondary segments including general corporate consulting clients, real estate buyers/sellers/tenants, and walk-in F&B consumers. The go-to-market combines inside sales for restaurant advertising, direct retail for the owned restaurant, and project-based engagement sales for consulting and design. Distribution is domestic only, and marketing is conducted almost exclusively through the company's own website, with no paid digital, social, or event channels disclosed in the source material. The firm explicitly operates a "try and exit quickly" philosophy that lets it redeploy capital from underperforming lines into new ventures.

Name

CITRUS Japan

Legal name

CITRUS Inc. (株式会社シトラス)

Website

https://citrus.co.jp

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CITRUS Japan is a privately-held Tokyo-based firm operating eight diversified business lines — consulting, Tabelog restaurant advertising agency, design, outsourced DM, a directly-operated yakiniku restaurant, real estate brokerage, business divestiture, and M&A advisory — primarily serving restaurant operators and SMB clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Restaurant advertising and marketing services

NAICS

Restaurants and Other Eating Places (7225), Mobile Food Services (722330)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Nonstore Retailers (5960)

akta.pro primary industry

Food Services & Catering (On-site/Corporate Dining/Vending) (IMAIAAAE)

Keywords

• Restaurant advertising agency
• Management consulting services
• Print design services
• Real estate brokerage
• Directly operated restaurant

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Consulting: Project-based management consulting aimed at improving client services and driving sales growth. Led by a CEO with prior experience at a major consulting firm. Revenue is engagement-based.
2. Advertising / Tabelog agency: Authorized agency (正規代理店) for Tabelog paid store-member services. Sells listings, menu design, customer-service coaching, and in-store layout advice to restaurants; revenue comes from agency commissions and service fees on each restaurant engagement.
3. Design: Print design services for restaurants and corporate clients, including menu books, flyers, shop cards, company brochures, and business cards. Each project is custom-built through repeated client meetings, billed as a one-time project.
4. Agency / outsourced operations: End-to-end outsourcing of DM and event-notification projects, covering production, printing, stuffing, and dispatch. Speed of execution and flexible dispatch dates are emphasized; revenue is project-based.
5. Food & beverage (directly-operated restaurant): Direct operation of 'Hormon Yakiniku Sho' (ホルモン焼肉 昌) in Sangenjaya, Tokyo. Revenue from in-store food and beverage sales, focusing on fresh morning-cut hormone offal and sake pairings.
6. Real estate brokerage: Brokerage for residential and office rentals (tenant search, screening, lease contracts) and sales of new/used homes, condominiums, and land. Revenue generated on transaction close.
7. Business sale / divestiture: Disposal of business lines deemed interesting but unprofitable, with capital redeployed into new ventures. The unit generates revenue by selling or winding down the operations of underperforming businesses.
8. M&A advisory: Acquiring companies to complement internal weaknesses, maximize strengths, and rapidly acquire new technology, talent, or markets. Revenue tied to deal completion and integration value capture.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

CITRUS Japan is a multi-venture Japanese firm whose core offering is authorized Tabelog restaurant-advertising agency services: telephone-based outbound sales to restaurant owners, paid store-member listings, dedicated page setup, on-site photography, PR copy creation, menu design, and in-store layout consulting. Complementing this flagship line are management consulting, print design (menus, flyers, brochures), DM/event communication outsourcing, real estate brokerage, M&A advisory, and the direct operation of a yakiniku restaurant (Hormon Yakiniku Sho) near Sangenjaya station in Tokyo.

Product overview

CITRUS Japan (株式会社シトラス) operates a diversified portfolio of eight in-house business lines rather than a single unified software product or platform-plus-modules architecture. The portfolio comprises: コンサルティング事業 (Consulting), 広告事業 (Advertising — including Tabelog store membership agency services), デザイン事業 (Design), 代行事業 (Outsourcing), 飲食事業 (Restaurant, anchored by the "ホルモン焼肉 昌" yakiniku brand), 不動産事業 (Real Estate), 売却撤退事業 (Sale/Withdrawal), and M&A. These lines are not integrated as modules of a common product; instead, they are independent service offerings sharing the same corporate entity, with the Advertising line (specifically Tabelog agency work) described in recruitment material as the main business, supplemented by real estate, restaurant operations, and video marketing initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hormone Yakiniku Sho (ホルモン焼肉　昌): Yakiniku (grilled offal) restaurant operated in the food service business line, located a 3-minute walk from Sangenjaya Station in Tokyo; signature offering is morning-cut (朝締め) fresh pork hormone.

Products and services

• Consulting Business (コンサルティング事業) Management consulting service that supports service improvement and revenue growth for corporate clients, leveraging the representative director's prior experience at a major Japanese consulting firm.
• Advertising Business / Tabelog Agency (広告事業) Authorized Tabelog (食べログ) agency service that addresses restaurant management challenges including sales growth, customer acquisition, and cost reduction through menu production, customer-service guidance, and layout advice for restaurant operators.
• Design Business (デザイン事業) Print design service for restaurants and corporate clients covering menu books, flyers, shop cards, corporate brochures, and business cards, built through repeated client meetings to deliver customized high-level design.
• Outsourcing / Agency Business (代行事業) End-to-end outsourcing service for direct mail, periodic event invitations, and related communications, handling production, printing, envelope stuffing, and delivery with speed-focused execution and preferred dispatch scheduling.
• Restaurant Business (飲食事業) - Hormon Yakiniku Sho (ホルモン焼肉 昌) Direct operation of the yakiniku restaurant "Hormon Yakiniku Sho" (ホルモン焼肉 昌) located a three-minute walk from Sangenjaya station in Tokyo, specializing in fresh morning-cut (朝締め) hormone offal and a wide variety of side dishes and alcoholic beverages for walk-in diners.
• Real Estate Business (不動産事業) Real estate brokerage and support service for residential and commercial clients, covering tenant recruitment, tenant screening, lease contract procedures, and listings across new and existing detached homes, condominiums, and land.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Tabelog (食べログ)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCITRUS operates as an authorized agency (正規代理店) for Tabelog's paid store-member services. The agency handles outbound telephone sales, page setup, on-site photography, and copy/PR creation for restaurant operators, and addresses restaurant management challenges such as sales uplift, customer attraction, and cost reduction through menu and in-store layout consultation. This is the company's flagship commercial relationship and a stated core revenue driver.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Recruit Holdings: Owner of Hot Pepper Gourmet, Tabelog's largest restaurant-discovery competitor in Japan, plus major staffing, real estate (SUUMO), and HR businesses. Directly relevant as the dominant platform incumbent whose agency and restaurant-marketing businesses overlap with CITRUS's Tabelog agency and restaurant consulting lines.
• Dentsu: Japan's largest advertising agency group with a substantial restaurant and F&B client book. Comparable to CITRUS's advertising agency line, though operating at vastly larger scale and with much broader media capabilities.
• Hakuhodo DY Holdings: Second-largest Japanese advertising group, with a sizable restaurant and consumer-brand practice. Comparable to CITRUS's advertising business and consultative marketing for SMB clients, though at enterprise scale.
• LIFULL: Japanese real estate portal operator (LIFULL HOME'S) that also runs brokerage and adjacent services. Comparable to CITRUS's real estate brokerage line for residential and commercial clients, though with a digital-platform-led model.
• Watami Co., Ltd. Japanese restaurant operator and food-services conglomerate that runs both directly-operated restaurants and broader F&B and agribusiness businesses. Comparable to CITRUS's directly-operated 'Hormon Yakiniku Sho' restaurant and its multi-line F&B/consulting portfolio philosophy.
• Toridoll Holdings: Japanese restaurant holding company operating Marugame Seimen and many directly-operated chains globally. Comparable to CITRUS's restaurant operating line, though at multi-brand chain scale rather than a single-location operation.

Direct peers

• TableCheck: Tokyo-based restaurant-tech company offering reservation, POS, and guest-data tools plus restaurant marketing services. Directly comparable to CITRUS's restaurant marketing, consulting, and Tabelog-related service bundle, though focused on software rather than agency execution.
• Dream Incubator Inc. Japanese consulting and business-incubation firm that combines management consulting with venture investment and M&A advisory. Comparable to CITRUS's consulting and M&A advisory business lines, though with institutional funding and a stronger investment track record.
• Nihon M&A Center: Japan's leading small-business M&A intermediary, focused on succession-driven deals. Comparable to CITRUS's M&A advisory and 'sale/divestiture' lines, particularly for small-to-mid Japanese service businesses.

Emerging players

• Dinii: Japanese mobile-order and restaurant-tech platform focused on F&B operators. Comparable as a restaurant-services vendor serving the same SMB restaurant customer that CITRUS targets with its advertising, design, and consulting offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/291270484293147

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CITRUS Japan