Homestyle Flavor, Delivered: The 17-Year Journey of Seven Premium Potato Salad
What’s good about potato salads: A simple yet nostalgic taste that will warm your heart.
Driven by a passion to recreate the home-made style potato salads, Seven Premium Potato Salad has been evolving since its debut in 2008. Loved by countless customers every day, it has become a staple on many tables.
What kind of trials and adjustments did the developers go through to capture the natural, delicious taste of potatoes and keep that flavor consistent?
Here is the "After the Storm Comes the Calm" story of the team behind Seven Premium Potato Salad.
Contents
- Ready-to-Eat Convenience: The Development of Pouch-style Delicatessen
- How to Make a Delicious Potato Salad
- Pursuing Flavor: With Facilities, Ingredients, and Factories
- The Best Compliment from family is, “It’s Delicious!”
- Adapting to Changing Times While Preserving Taste
- The Passion for Bringing Delicious Food to the Table
Ready-to-Eat Convenience: The Development of Pouch-style Delicatessen
Potato Salad at the time of release in 2008
Before the launch of this Seven Premium Potato Salad, the company faced a significant challenge: developing "pouch-style delicatessen" that could be stored long-term and easy to prepare.
"At the time, it was becoming harder for families to gather and eat together. Kids were off to cram school, and spouses were working until late," recalls Takahashi, a daily food merchandiser in Seven Premium Development Strategy & Planning Department, the Group Merchandise Strategy & Planning Division, who was a part of the team responsible for developing pouch-style delicatessen.
Department and position are those at the time of the interview.
Takahashi
Back then, even in households with both parents working, it was common for people to cook their main dishes themselves. So, our idea was, what if we offered ready-to-eat side dishes that are easy to prepare and could be stocked in the refrigerator? This idea led to the development of Seven Premium's original pouch-style delicatessen.
In 2007, Seven Premium launched its first line of products—seven types of Japanese-style side dishes. At the time, most pouch-style delicatessen items on the market were high-priced, and there weren't many affordable, single-serving options.
Aside from being affordable, Seven Premium aimed to deliver the taste of freshly made dishes the moment you opened the pouch. The concept quickly caught on.
Otake, the Deputy General Manager of the Product Business Department and Senior Merchandiser for the Daily Department at York-Benimaru, took over the development of the pouch-style delicatessen from Takahashi. His inspiration for creating the Potato Salad came from his own family's dinner table.
Otake
We have a child in junior high school, and one of the dishes my wife made most often was a potato salad. But making it by hand takes time and effort, so she often prepares a big batch. We couldn't finish it all in one day, so we'd end up eating the potato salad for breakfast and lunch the next day, too.
This led us to think that it would be a good idea to have a product that could be easily purchased and consumable in just the portions needed.
How to Make a Delicious Potato Salad
Developing an easy-to-buy, tasty pouch-style potato salad started with a major challenge: how to recreate the flavor of homemade potato salads.
At the time, potato salads were sold in large portions for commercial use. The potatoes were mashed so finely that the texture was more like a pâté than a potato salad.
Otake
With the conventional process, all the flavors would just disappear. Potato salads were one of the least popular deli items back then. But it's such a common dish at home, so we felt it was worth trying to improve. And that's how we started developing it.
Pursuing Flavor: With Facilities, Ingredients, and Factories
Otake's first task was to review the processing method of potatoes.
Otake
The most flavorful part of a potato is the layer right under the skin. But with the conventional method, this important part was cut away, stripping the potatoes of their essential flavor. Plus, the pipes used to pack the potato salad into pouches were too narrow, making it impossible to preserve the ideal chunky texture.
It was difficult to figure out how to cut the potatoes without losing flavor and determine the right size of the pipe to avoid mashing the potatoes. After six months of trial and error, they finally came up with a solution.
But it wasn't just about the equipments. Everything from the selection of ingredients to the factory was completely redesigned for the potato salad.
Otake
We decided to use Danshaku potatoes from Hokkaido, which are high in starch. While most potatoes contain about 13% starch, Danshaku potatoes contain more than 15%. We believed this would help achieve the fluffy texture that makes the potato salad special. We eventually made supply contracts with farmers in Hokkaido, but it took a long time to negotiate because of the massive quantities we needed.
Otake and Takahashi, involved in the development of the Potato Salad
Even with the ideal ingredients secured, there was another challenge: if the potatoes couldn’t be processed while still fresh, the desired taste would be impossible to achieve. To address this, in 2012, the team worked with their partners to establish a new factory in Hokkaido.
Takahashi
I was surprised that they built a factory in Hokkaido so that the potatoes could be processed immediately after harvesting! Otake had the idea that the best way to process high-quality ingredients is to do it right where they're grown. His strong desire to process the best ingredients at the place of production and deliver them to everyone in Japan, became reality.
The Best Compliment from family is, “It’s Delicious!”
After countless trials and adjustments, Seven Premium Potato Salad was finally made. Takahashi clearly remembers the excitement he felt when he first tasted it and the positive reactions when it hit the shelves.
Takahashi
I'll never forget the moment I tasted the Potato Salad Otake had developed. It was even better than the handmade versions sold at deli counters. I was confident that it would sell well and that I could put it on the sales floor.
Otake
I was just happy when it was finally ready. Hearing so many people say it was delicious, including my wife, was truly rewarding. Even my child seemed to love it, and it made its way into their lunch box, too.
The storm has passed; however, this was also the beginning of Seven Premium Potato Salad's journey.
Adapting to Changing Times While Preserving Taste
"Seven Premium Potato Salad has undergone 12 renewals and is now in its 13th generation (as of March 2025). Since it's a staple product, we must keep updating to meet our customers' expectations. While respecting the dedication built by our predecessors, we're constantly working to maintain its deliciousness." Says Miyuki, Seven Premium Daily Merchandiser from the Delicatessen Department of Merchandise Division in SEVEN-ELEVEN JAPAN, who is currently in charge of product development.
These days, keeping that signature flavor intact isn't easy, especially with a constantly changing market. One of the biggest challenges has been the rising cost of ingredients.
Miyuki
Many of our customers purchase multiple packs at once, so even a slight price increase can be a big burden. That's why we needed to keep prices reasonable while still providing the same quality that people want to eat every day.
To achieve this, Miyuki focused on simplifying the flavoring to highlight the natural taste of the potatoes. By cutting unnecessary ingredients and reinvesting those savings into improving quality, he was able to keep the balance between great taste and affordability. And just like the predecessors, they are always looking for new ways to make it even better.
Miyuki
For instance, last year we increased the potato's cutting size to give it a more chunky texture. We also refined how we process onions, switching to a special steaming technique that maintains their natural flavor and crispness.
Another big challenge has been ensuring a stable supply of quality potatoes. Issues like the aging farming population and lack of successors have made sourcing potatoes increasingly difficult.
Miyuki
What we can offer farmers is stable orders. By using their potatoes not only for the Potato Salad but also for our cup-style delicatessen and other new products, we can help secure their income. While it won't completely solve the problem of finding successors, we'll keep searching for ways to protect the supply of quality potatoes.
No matter how hard the challenges, the passion to deliver delicious food to everyone's table never stops.
The Passion for Bringing Delicious Food to the Table
Finally, we asked the members to reflect on their journey and share their thoughts about Seven Premium Potato Salad.
Otake
The sun is always shining above the clouds. Even when things seem gloomy, there's light beyond. I don't know if we've truly reached that clear sky yet, but the fact that our potato salad has been loved for over a decade is something I'm genuinely happy about.
Takahashi
Seven Premium, including our Potato Salad, represents food innovation. And I want us to keep innovating!
Miyuki
Because a potato salad is such a simple dish, it's never 'complete.' It's a never-ending quest to find the perfect taste. It's challenging, but through constant discussion and improvement, we keep moving forward. That's our job as the team that inherited this product.
No matter how much the world changes, the desire to deliver something delicious will always remain. And Seven Premium Potato Salad will keep striving to provide and move forward to a bright future.
Titles and positions mentioned are as of the time of the interview.
This text has been translated using an automatic translation tool.
