Kewpie Mayonnaise's 101st Year Challenge: Initiation Ceremony Held for 61 New Hires for 2026 General Positions, Launches Hiring of "DX/IT Talent" as a Specialized Field

Kewpie Corporation (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President and CEO: Mitsuru Takamiya; hereinafter Kewpie) held an initiation ceremony at its Shibuya headquarters on Wednesday, April 1, for 61 new employees hired for general positions in fiscal 2026. This year, new employees were hired in the first-ever "DX/IT" department under the "specialized field"*1 among the four recruitment categories (sales, R&D, manufacturing, specialized fields).

Our company was certified as a "DX Certified Operator" by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in August 2025*2. In our mid-term management plan for FY2025-2028, we are accelerating the promotion of DX across the entire group, strengthening the recruitment and development of human resources responsible for building and promoting the core DX/IT strategy and driving business transformation. Therefore, we added the DX/IT department to the traditional specialized fields (finance, legal, logistics) as a new recruitment category.

*1 We currently recruit for four specialized fields: finance, legal, logistics, and DX/IT. *2 See Kewpie Aohata News 2025 No.77

Overview of the Initiation Ceremony for FY2026 General Position Hires In addition to the formal ceremony this year, as an opportunity to experience one of the corporate mottoes valued by the group, "Cherish your parents," the new hires wrote and sent original postcards expressing their gratitude to their families and mentors. This initiative, which started at last year's initiation ceremony, has been a memorable experience, with comments*3 from this year's new employees such as, "It was a good opportunity to convey the gratitude that I usually can't express in words," and "I was able to newly deliver my determination as a working adult."

*3 Excerpted and edited from interviews with new employees.