Seiichi Suzuki

Seiichi Suzuki (1911- 1980) was founder and president of Duskin Co., Ltd., a Japanese franchising company originally specializing in industrial linen businesses which grew into a diversified business base, including: dust control, residential and commercial cleaning contracts, food service, and support services for senior citizens.

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Mr. Suzuki founded the company in 1963 in Osaka, Japan, two years after first traveling to the USA where he encountered the dust control business. He used the franchise business model to grow and expand Duskin across Japan during an era when the franchise business model was mainly popular in America. Through Suzuki’s dedication, determination, and business acumen, the Duskin company became a very successful multi-channel franchise company.

In 1969, shortly after American franchise brand Dunkin' Donuts opened its first shop in Japan, Harry Winokur, founder of Mister Donut in the United States (a Dunkin’ Donuts competitor), asked Mr. Suzuki to start some Japan-based Mister Donut franchises. In 1971, the first Mr. Donut shop opened in Japan, offering 143 varieties of donuts and 11 beverage types. Today, there are more than 900 Mr. Donut shops operating throughout Japan.

WATCH A 2021 SAMURAI JUNJIRO CHANNEL YOUTUBE VIDEO ABOUT MR. DONUT SHOPS IN JAPAN

Throughout the 1970s, the franchise businesses operating under the Duskin company portfolio continued to grow, adding new business segments along the way.

SEE EXCERPT FROM 2018 DUSKIN CO., LTD. ANNUAL REPORT SHOWING PHOTO OF FOUNDER SEIICHI SUZUKI

Mr. Suzuki established and practiced a management philosophy he termed “Prayerful Management”, which is still core to Duskin’s operating philosophy today. Suzuki’s philosophy centers around attentive customer care and employee joy and well-being as being the ultimate focus of their daily efforts.

Prayerful Management Philosophy:
Day after day, beginning with today
Both you and I have a chance
To begin our lives anew.
Whether our lot today be profit or loss,
Be spiritually read for loss.
As a planter would, let us sow the seeds of joy
To every person we meet each day
For everyone, for you and me
May we lead our lives in this world to the fullest
Realizing our maximum spiritual and material potential.

Suzuki’s and, ultimately Duskin Company’s, corporate philosophy of Prayerful Management aligns with the modern business management term "creating shared value" (CSV). When applied to a franchise business model, this concept believes that if all is good with the seller, buyer and the public at large, then all is right on the "three sides” of a business transaction. Duskin company adds a fourth side: the franchisees who deliver their products and services to consumers.

READ THE 2021 DUSKIN CO, LTD. ANNUAL CORPORATE REPORT TO SEE A CURRENT LIST OF FRANCHISE BUSINESSES OPERATING UNDER DUSKIN, AND TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SOWING THE SEEDS OF JOY

Mr. Suzuki died in 1980 at the age of 68. In January 1987, Duskin, Ltd. Co. became the first Japanese company to receive the International Franchise Association (IFA) Hall of Fame Award.

There isn’t a lot of information publicly available about Seiichi Suzuki’s childhood/early years. The Duskin Co., Ltd., annual corporate reports can be found online via the Duskin website. Each report contains at least a brief reference to Mr. Suzuki’s legacy as their founder, including some occasional references to his childhood or youth.

According to the 2019 Dunkin Annual Report, Seiichi was born in Hekinan City, Aichi Prefecture in 1911. In 1938, at age 27, he left his job with an Osaka wax company to join a religious community devoted to the practice of Ittoen.

Ittoen is a community of people first established in 1904 and still active today. Community members seek to live a life of having no material possessions, along with a focus of service. At the core of this community is the belief that when humans live in accordance with the ways of nature, they are accepted and enabled to live, even without owning things, and even without converting labor into money.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ITTOEN

In 1944 he established the Kentoku Company. From that time on, Seiichi pursued the principle of Prayerful Management, with the goal of unifying moral and economic goals in both his own and his company’s business practices. All of the businesses Mr. Suzuki subsequently started, including Duskin, were managed by the principles of his religion.

Suzuki first traveled to the United States in May 1961 at the age of fifty. It was during this milestone trip that he encountered the industrial linen business, and learned more about franchising as a business model, which was popular mainly in the United States.

The 2022 Duskin Annual Report includes photos of Mr. Suzuki in 1961 traveling to the USA for the first time, includes references to the IFA Hall of Fame award bestowed to Duskin Co., Ltd. in 1987, and the opening of the first Mr. Donut in Japan in April 1971.

READ THE 2022 DUSKIN CO, LTD. ANNUAL REPORT

In 1938 at age 27, Seiichi Suzuki quit his job with an Osaka, Japan wax company to join a community devoted to Ittoen. Ittoen beliefs are similar to the religion of Buddhism that stresses service to the community. He subsequently started several businesses, including Duskin Co. Ltd., operating all of them by the principles of his religion.

The first product in the Duskin franchise was Home Duskin, a specially treated cloth that created a new, innovative way of dusting without water. Quickly sought after in homes across Japan, people referred to it as “the magic dust cloth”; it was extremely successful.

In 1969, Duskin, Co., Ltd. was granted full membership status in the International Franchise Association (IFA), a first for a Japanese-based franchise company.

Mister Donut

Throughout 1970, Duskin tested the market to see if a Mister Donut business would be successful in Japan. A full-size replica of a typical Mister Donut coffee shop was built inside a huge Duskin warehouse. Duskin employees and salespeople sampled the food and beverages, tested out the ambience of the “shop”, and provided feedback which proved to be important. It was noted that the American counter height was too high for Japanese comfort, the chairs were too wide, and the coffee cups were too heavy.

The donut taste was unappealing to the Japanese palate due to the amount of nutmeg used. Although Seiichi’s contract with Mister Donut would require that the Japan shops be identical to those in the United States, Suzuki and his management team knew that localizing the product and providing an upscale dining environment to suit the Japanese culture and tastes would be key to a successful franchise operation.

In 1971, the first Mr. Donut shop opened in Japan, offering 143 varieties of donuts and 11 beverage types. As of 2022, there are more than 960 Mr. Donut shops operating throughout Japan.

READ THE DECEMBER 26, 1982 NY TIMES ARTICLE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE MISTER DONUT FRANCHISE IN JAPAN: "Serving Mister Donut and the Community"

Multi-Channel Franchising

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Duskin continued to grow and diversify the franchise channels it managed, including pest control, environmental hygiene services, healthcare management services, and more.

VIEW THE 2021 DUSKIN CORPORATE REPORT INFOGRAPHIC TIMELINE TO SEE THE FRANCHISE CHANNELS MANAGED UNDER DUSKIN.

Suzuki Seiichi (1911–80) based his management policies on his person religious beliefs. He had studied and had lived in Ittoen, a non-denominational community focused on, self-cultivation. From this experience, Suzuki advocated and integrated the practice of Prayerful Management into the Duskin company management philosophy with the goal of unifying business with both morals and personal happiness.

At Duskin, the heart sutra is recited every morning in the workplace. Furthermore, Duskin employee training is conducted at Ittoen. In addition to meditation, Duskin trainees visit homes in the neighborhood around Ittoen and clean toilets free of charge during their training. This is done as a kind of practice where tasks that people dislike are performed gladly as a way of showing your gratitude and to demonstrate the importance of being useful.

Duskin is not a religious company, and Suzuki Seiichi was not a religious leader. Duskin staff who undergo training at Ittoen are not required to convert to any faith.

The philosophy of Prayerful Management remains core to the Duskin company, and is a pillar celebrated and noted in their annual reports and on their website.