Harimaya Station is a cafe chain in Japan which offers free Senbei (煎餅, Japanese rice crackers) and drinks to their patrons.
The concept is developed by Harimaya Honten, one of Japan’s top confectionery companies, which claimed that it’s a way to give back to society. To put it boldly the cafes are just some well set up free sampling centres; the company got the PR, the customers got some free goodies… win-win afterall.
Besides, I guess most folks won’t mind buying some products after the free sampling. I won’t be surprised if these ‘free’ cafes could self sustained financially.
The Harimaya Station currently has seven outlets across Japan, with plans to open another few including oversea branches in Paris and New York.
Image by Kawanet, via Japanstyle and Japundit.
