64,000 people savored popular restaurants' staff meals at the "an Staff Meal Festival" for just 500 yen.

The outdoor gourmet event "an Makanaifes" (hosted by Intelligence), where you can enjoy "staff meals" from trendy restaurants for just one coin, was held over four days from November 10th to 13th at Tokyo's Nakano Central Park.

Under the slogan "Eat your fill of those popular shops' staff meals!", an an makanaifes featured numerous trendy restaurants. Fifteen popular restaurants gathered, including: - Kaku Seiryo Misen, which made its Tokyo debut this year from Nagoya and draws massive daily lines; - Nikuyama, the wildly popular meat restaurant with reservations booked solid six months in advance; - Oh Gaman de Tokio, renowned for its creative French cuisine; - Eggs 'n Things, which draws huge daily lines in Harajuku; - and the currently trending organic restaurant BIODYNAMIE. Each restaurant served up their signature staff meals for just one coin (¥500 including tax).

DJ KOO, known for his unique food reviews, appeared at the event's opening ceremony. Popular blogger Momo-san fed him Eggs 'n Things' Loco Moco Pancake Burger, while popular reader model Rina Tanaka-san fed him Kaku Seiryo Misen's Misen Staff Meal Bowl. After each bite, DJ KOO exclaimed "The deliciousness is BOY MEETS GIRL!" in his signature DJ-style food commentary, thrilling the crowd.

This "an Staff Meal Festival" was hosted by the part-time job information service "an". In recent years, the effective job openings-to-applicants ratio for part-time jobs has been rising annually, with the ratio particularly high in the food service industry. Compared to the overall average of 1, the ratio for food preparation occupations (kitchen) is 2.25 times, and for customer service/waitstaff occupations (hall), it's 3.41 times, indicating persistent hiring difficulties in both fields. (Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare "General Employment Situation" <as of September 2016>)

Part-time jobs in the food service industry are often chosen based on three factors: "hourly wage, location, and shift schedule." The "an Makunai Festival" was held with the desire to break away from this uniform approach to choosing part-time work and propose a new style to the world: choosing a job based on the unique "staff meals" offered by restaurants, allowing people to experience the restaurant's character.

This time, members of the gourmet unit "Tabearuking," a group of food-tasting experts, selected and produced the participating stores. "Every restaurant is feeling the hiring shortage firsthand, and many stores agreed to participate in this event. We were able to gather only stores that serve delicious 'staff meals,'" the members assured. Many popular restaurants that usually don't participate in outdoor gourmet events also set up stalls, and the festival was a huge success every day, with some stores having waits of up to two hours.

The "an Staff Meal Festival" was a huge success over its four days, attracting approximately 64,000 visitors. Mr. Tomohisa Mori, Group Manager of the organizing company Intelligence's Advertising Division, commented: "This was our first attempt, but we were able to hold the event because the participating restaurants shared our vision. By letting many people experience the joy and deliciousness of working in the food service industry through 'staff meals,' we believe we proposed a new style: 'choosing a part-time job because the staff meals are delicious.' Moving forward, as part of our mission as a part-time job information service, we want to continue working with restaurants to invigorate the food service industry."