Lightning-Quick Lager
The Japanese, who showed the West how to make motorcycles and electronic equipment faster and cheaper, have now turned their attention to brewing.
Japan’s biggest brewer, Kirin, claims to have devised a process that will allow lager to be produced in a plant one-tenth the size of a traditional brewery in just three days--lightning-quick by normal brewing standards, which can require up to two months to turn out a strong lager.
Kirin’s process, described vaguely as “bio-reactor technology,” remains a mystery, although the Guardian newspaper of Britain says the company has applied for patents to use ceramics as a catalyst to make yeasts work harder.
So far no outsiders have been allowed to taste the high-tech beer. But Kirin, whose beers command half the Japanese market, has a solid track record. Its engineers’ current triumph on Tokyo supermarket shelves has been a designer vegetable called senpousai-- a cross between cabbage and spinach.
Reading and Riding
The people at Paisano Publications, who put out 400,000-circulation “Easyriders” and other motorcycle magazines, noticed that 10% of motorcycles are now owned by women, compared to 1% a decade ago. Sensing a business opportunity, the Agoura company recently hit the newsstand with a new magazine, “Foxyriders,” for women who ride Harley-Davidsons.
Keith R. Ball, editor of the magazine, explains that women bike fans have different interests from men. They join clubs called “Leather and Lace,” and “Women in the Wind,” and decorate their bikes differently. “I’ve seen a few pink bikes,” he said. The inaugural issue has tips for women on bike maintenance, stories by women explaining their passion for the pastime, and a centerfold of a strapping male biker.
A Run on Hosiery Ads
This must be what those acquisition-minded retailers mean when they talk about economies of scale.
Last week, Bullocks Wilshire and I. Magnin ran a joint ad for a hosiery sale saying that the stockings could be purchased at either store. But a spokeswoman said that doesn’t mean that R. H. Macy & Co., which bought the two chains a year ago, is thinking of combining them.
“Both companies have two very distinct personalities, and there is no intention of integrating them,” she said. “Where it makes sense to advertise products like cosmetics or hosiery, we intend to strengthen our advertising by advertising both chains.” Most ads, she indicated, will continue to keep the two chains’ socks--and shirts and suits--in different drawers.
Been There, Done That
The biggest California banks, such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo, recently began offering Saturday hours. Big deal, Great Western Bank says.
In a press release sent to business editors last week, the large Beverly Hills-based institution (which is also a savings and loan, despite its name) noted that it has been offering Saturday hours at selected branches since the mid-1970s. “We helped write the book on extended hours many years ago,” it said.
Most news accounts of the recent entry of California banks into the Saturday market--including several stories in The Times--did not note that, Great Western said. For reasons of its own, Great Western’s bulletin did not name any of several other savings and loans that also have been offering Saturday hours for years.
