Is That Dish What Students Intended? Sapporo Excel Hotel Tokyu × Date City, Hokkaido × Hokkaido Musashi Women's University Joint Project: "Irresistible" Date Fair!

Sapporo Excel Hotel Tokyu (Sapporo, Hokkaido; General Manager: Noriyuki Mizutani) will hold the "Irresistible" Date Fair, featuring ingredients from Date City, Hokkaido, at the first-floor restaurant "L'Arbre" and the second-floor Japanese restaurant "Karamatsu" from Thursday, July 16, to Saturday, August 15, 2026. This fair is implemented as an industry-academia-government collaboration project with Date City, Hokkaido, and Hokkaido Musashi Women's University, offering a "food experience you can't help but want to eat" incorporating perspectives from behavioral economics.

▪A Practical Project Leveraging Behavioral Economics through Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration

This project is carried out as an industry-academia-government collaboration between Sapporo Excel Hotel Tokyu, Date City, Hokkaido, and Hokkaido Musashi Women's University. Students from the Yoshichi Seminar (Behavioral Economics and Marketing Research) at Hokkaido Musashi Women's University are participating, planning and proposing POP displays, menu presentation methods, food presentation, and customer flow design in the restaurant, incorporating the perspective of behavioral economics on "what information attracts people and what criteria they use to choose dishes." Through creating "mechanisms that get chosen," they aim to communicate the new appeal of Date-grown ingredients. For the hotel, the objectives are to communicate the value of local ingredients, strengthen regional ties, and contribute to the education of the next generation, aiming to create a new food experience where region, education, and tourism intersect.

▪About the Appeal of Date-Grown Ingredients

Date City, known as the "Shonan of the North," is an area with little snow and a warm climate. Vegetables grown in this climate are known for their excellent balance of freshness, sweetness, and aroma, and are beloved as representative agricultural products of Hokkaido. Additionally, leveraging its location facing Funka Bay, the city has been a thriving fishing center since the Edo period. In addition to abundant seafood like scallops and salmon, the area is blessed with diverse ingredients, including high-quality dairy products produced in an environment suitable for grazing.

The unique flavors created by the land's characteristics and the producers' dedication are highly valued as cooking ingredients.

▪A Menu Lineup to Savor with All Five Senses, Utilizing Diverse Date-Grown Ingredients

At the first-floor restaurant "L'Arbre," you can enjoy menus highlighting the appeal of Date-grown ingredients as part of the lunch buffet, divided into two periods in July and August with different offerings. Dishes include a chowder using sweet corn with a fruit-like sweetness, and a pan-seared Date "Shinken-ji" chicken with a salsa sauce made from the umami-rich Date tomato "Togoro." Furthermore, at the beer garden starting June 13, limited-time snacks like a combination of rich, juicy Date mini-tomatoes "Nene" and mozzarella cheese will be available. At the second-floor Japanese restaurant "Karamatsu," seasonal Japanese dishes incorporating fresh Date-grown ingredients will be added to the regular menu. The restaurant will display the fresh Date ingredients used that day, allowing guests to enjoy not only the taste of the food but also the experience of choosing.

Restaurant "L'Arbre" Menu

Date Sweet Corn Chowder, Pan-seared Date "Shinken-ji" Chicken with "Togoro" Salsa, "Nene" and Mozzarella "Wa"-style Platter

Japanese Restaurant "Karamatsu" Sample Menu

Karamatsu Bento (Lunch), Miyabi no Shizuku Kaiseki (Dinner), Hokkaido Cheese Fondue (Dinner)

▪Comments and Enthusiasm for the Fair

〈Hokkaido Musashi Women's University, Yoshichi Seminar Students〉

"We hope to connect the relationship between customer choices and actions to convey the appeal of Date-grown ingredients."

"We want to come up with many ideas to make use of what we have learned in our seminar so far."

"We are looking forward to proceeding by exchanging opinions with seminar members based on the knowledge gained in lectures."

〈General Manager of Sapporo Excel Hotel Tokyu〉

This project is an attempt to communicate the appeal of Date ingredients, the region's rich produce, in a new form through the venue of the hotel. By combining the academic perspective of behavioral economics with the flexible ideas of students, we aim to create an unprecedented 'food experience that gets chosen.' Through this project, which connects the region, education, and tourism, we will strive for sustainable value creation.

▪Overview of the "Irresistible" Date Fair

Period: Thursday, July 16, 2026 – Saturday, August 15, 2026

Venues: Sapporo Excel Hotel Tokyu, 1st Floor Restaurant "L'Arbre" / 2nd Floor Japanese Restaurant "Karamatsu"

Hours:

[1st Floor Restaurant "L'Arbre"]

・Lunch Buffet

Weekdays: 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM / Weekends & Holidays: 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM

*Last entry is 1 hour before closing.

・Beer Garden

12:00 PM – 3:00 PM, 4:00 PM – 9:00 PM

*Last order is 60 minutes before closing.

[2nd Floor Japanese Restaurant "Karamatsu"]

11:30 AM – 3:00 PM / 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM

*Last order for kaiseki cuisine is 90 minutes before closing.

Prices:

[1st Floor Restaurant "L'Arbre"]

・Lunch Buffet

Weekdays: Adults ¥2,900 / Seniors (65+) ¥2,600 / Elementary School Students ¥1,500 / Ages 4-6 ¥1,100

Weekends & Holidays: Adults ¥3,100 / Seniors (65+) ¥3,100 / Elementary School Students ¥1,500 / Ages 4-6 ¥1,100

*Children under 3 are free all day.

・Beer Garden

"Nene" and Mozzarella "Wa"-style Platter ¥800 / Date Vegetable Caponata ¥1,000

[2nd Floor Japanese Restaurant "Karamatsu"]

Meal Plans from ¥2,700 / A la Carte from ¥300

*Offered ingredients and plans may vary depending on ingredient procurement. Please check at the restaurant for details.

Date Fair Menu Items:

[1st Floor Restaurant "L'Arbre"]

・Lunch Buffet

July 16 – July 31 Menu: "Nene" and Tofu "Wa"-style Platter / Golden Pork Pané with Date Tomato Ketchup Sauce / Funka Bay Autumn Salmon à l'Orange with Grilled Sea Urchin Cream Sauce / Date Sweet Corn Chowder / Date Fromage Blanc with Aronia and Dried Papaya / Sweet Corn Focaccia

August 1 – August 15 Menu: Date Vegetable Caponata / Sautéed Golden Pork with Date Sweet Potato Purée and Apple Sauce / Pan-seared Date "Shinken-ji" Chicken with "Togoro" Salsa / Date Pumpkin Soup / Date Tomato Jelly / Sweet Corn Focaccia

・Beer Garden

July 16 – July 31 Menu: "Nene" and Mozzarella "Wa"-style Platter

August 1 – August 15 Menu: Date Vegetable Caponata

[2nd Floor Japanese Restaurant "Karamatsu"] Examples

Karamatsu Bento / Miyabi no Shizuku Kaiseki / Hokkaido Cheese Fondue, etc.

Offered ingredients and plans may vary depending on ingredient procurement. Please check at the restaurant for details.

Cooperation: Date City, Hokkaido / Hokkaido Musashi Women's University

*Guests with food allergies should inform staff in advance.

*Menus are subject to change depending on ingredient availability.

*All photos are for illustrative purposes only.

*In accordance with the law, we do not serve alcohol to anyone who will be driving or to customers under the age of 20.

Customer Inquiries:

Sapporo Excel