[Second Restaurant Project Launched, Partners Wanted] Urban Chefs to Have 'Another Restaurant' in Regional Areas! Multi-Location Restaurant 'Second Restaurant' Starts! Recruiting Partners to Create the Project Together!

Interlocal Partners Inc. (Headquarters: Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture; Representative Director: Keiji Yamamoto; hereinafter ILP) is launching 'Second Restaurant,' a project that connects 'regions' and 'chefs' to create a new culture of 'multi-location restaurants.' As the first phase of this project, a limited-time restaurant featuring traveling chef Yasuhiro Higa will open in June 2026 (scheduled) in Nio-cho, Mitoyo City, Kagawa Prefecture, an area currently attracting attention for its new town development.

What is Second Restaurant? "More delicious times for regions. More freedom for chefs to challenge themselves." Second Restaurant is a project where chefs active in urban areas stay in regional areas as if they have a second home in a resort, establishing temporary restaurants as 'another one of their own restaurants.' This is not merely a few days of 'catering' or a 'pop-up event.' Chefs themselves stay in the area, immerse themselves in the local culture, interact directly with producers, and deeply engage with seasonal ingredients available only in that region. By combining rich natural environments such as the sea and mountains, local buildings, and deeply rooted regional cultures with the high skills and sensibilities cultivated by chefs, we create 'special delicious moments unique to that land and that moment' that cannot be experienced in urban restaurants. Second Restaurant Official Website: https://www.second-restaurant.jp/

Significance of this Project With remote work and multi-location living, people's places of residence and work styles have become freer than ever before, blurring the boundaries between urban and rural areas. However, when we look at the 'restaurant' business model, due to physical constraints of店舗 and barriers of initial investment, both restaurants, human resources, and chefs' careers remain concentrated and fixed in urban areas. However, the origin of wonderful cuisine, 'ingredients,' is nurtured in regional areas, and chefs should have more opportunities to visit production sites, experience the producers' passion, and freely take on challenges. This project is a mechanism that seamlessly connects urban and rural areas in the food domain, solving challenges for both sides.

□ Significance for Chefs: Without bearing the risks of large property acquisition costs and fixed expenses, chefs can update their creativity through encounters with new ingredients. It becomes a place to challenge themselves to build a new work style and career as a 'multi-location chef,' not confined to a single kitchen.

□ Significance for Regions: By incorporating the perspective of external professionals, new charms (terroir) of familiar local ingredients are brought out. The creation of high-level dining experiences (gastronomy) in the region attracts food-motivated tourists and 'related populations,' leading to the revitalization of the entire local dining industry. Second Restaurant proposes 'multi-location restaurants' as a new form of dining establishment for the coming era, bridging the gap between chefs and regions and enriching food culture across Japan.

Introduction of Participating Areas Currently, attractive regional partners from various parts of Japan are participating in this project. ・[Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture] HAKKO HOUSE (a stay-type facility themed on fermented and preserved food culture of snowy regions) ・[Kisarazu City, Chiba Prefecture] Darin (a crossroads of everyday and extraordinary overlooking the sea) ・[Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture] Kounotori Terrace (a hub connecting nature and people) We plan to expand regional partners accepting 'Second Restaurant' nationwide in the future.

First Second Restaurant Opening: Nio (Mitoyo City, Kagawa Prefecture) The stage for the memorable first phase of the project is Nio-cho, Mitoyo City, Kagawa Prefecture. Date: June 2026 (※Specific opening date and time will be announced on the official Instagram as soon as decided) Venue: 'Second Restaurant Nio' within Minotake Street Content: A special course featuring Setouchi seafood and abundant local ingredients, provided by Chef Yasuhiro Higa.

□ What is Nio? Nio-cho, Mitoyo City, facing the Seto Inland Sea in western Kagawa Prefecture, is a historic port town that once prospered from salt production and fishing. In recent years, the spectacular spot 'Chichibugahama,' also known as 'Japan's Uyuni Salt Flat,' has become a hot topic, attracting many tourists. Currently, the 'Minotake Shopping Street (Minotake Street)' project, Japan's first shopping street DAO project where local residents and new residents collaborate to create new challenges while preserving old townscapes, is underway. Cafes and small businesses renovated from vacant houses have emerged, making it a noteworthy area brimming with the enthusiasm of new town development centered on 'mutual aid' and 'neighborly help.'

□ Who is Chef Higa? Yasuhiro Higa Representative Director of Maestranza Inc. / Chef, Regional Food Producer, Ingredient Hunter. Starting as a macrobiotic chef, he has actively worked as a 'traveling chef,' including serving as the grand chef of 'Roppongi Nouen,' an agricultural experimental restaurant created with producers nationwide. In recent years, based at 'Peace Kitchen TOKYO,' he has been widely involved in restaurant and menu production both domestically and internationally, working to create new food cultures. He is a specialist in maximizing the appeal of ingredients hidden in regional areas.