"Ota x Ishii DELA LOVER" is a variety show where Bakusho Mondai's Hikari Ota and TV Host Ryoji Ishii delve into Tokai region's classics! This time, it's a special on factory direct sales stores with long lines. Because they are stores operated by food manufacturers' factories, the taste is outstanding yet the prices are incredibly low! It's worth going out of your way to buy from them! We thoroughly investigated factory direct sales stores with long lines! (Prices are as of the broadcast date)

500 people gather from the morning! A tofu shop's super cheap direct sales event

More than 500 people flock to "Otoufu Kobo Ishikawa"'s monthly factory direct sales event from the morning. The direct sales store is located in Takahama City, Aichi Prefecture, about a 10-minute drive from Meitetsu Yoshihama Station. Before 5 AM, two hours before opening, customers are already lining up. By before 7 AM, there's a huge line!

Otoufu Kobo Ishikawa is a tofu shop founded in the Meiji era, and currently operates 31 stores nationwide, mainly in the Tokai region. Many customers come to the monthly event "Aozora Asaichi" because many valuable products are lined up.

The factory in Takahama manufactures tofu sold at all stores. According to General Manager Murakami of the production department, they produce about 50,000 blocks a day! Only domestic soybeans are used for the tofu.

Outlet tofu at the direct sales store, which usually costs about 250 yen, is sold for 55 yen (2 blocks for 110 yen), a discount of about 80%! The reason for being an outlet product is due to cracks on the surface of the tofu, but there is absolutely no problem with the taste. Since it is sold in front of the factory, transportation costs are not incurred, allowing it to be offered at a low price.

According to President Ishikawa, the Aozora Asaichi was started to let people eat freshly made tofu, which is the most delicious. Furthermore, when they discounted outlet products to provide even better service, those became very popular.

At Aozora Asaichi, in addition to Ishikawa's tofu, outlet products from affiliated companies and local vegetables are also sold. All-you-can-stuff soybeans are 200 yen. Natto, which can cost 200 yen per pack at supermarkets, is 110 yen per pack (3 pieces). For fried tofu, those that were smaller than shipping standards or misshapen when fried at the factory can be grabbed for 300 yen per try! Tofu donuts that are misshapen and cannot be shipped can be stacked for 450 yen per try. You get as much as you can stack in 3 minutes.

On this day, more than 500 people visited within 2 hours of the event's start.

At the shop on the second floor of the factory direct sales store, you can enjoy a super cheap morning meal anytime.

You can eat all-you-can-eat homemade bread baked with soy milk made at the factory and bread made with okara (soy pulp) that comes out when making tofu. You can also put as many toppings as you like, such as cheese, egg paste, and jam. Furthermore, freshly made yose-dofu (soft tofu) from the factory is also all-you-can-eat.

The morning set, which includes all-you-can-eat bread and yose-dofu, all-you-can-top toppings, and a drink, costs 660 yen. If the drink is hot coffee, it's all-you-can-refill.

The reason why Otoufu Kobo Ishikawa's tofu is loved is that it's a unique tofu that even those who don't like it can easily eat. To find out the difference, we infiltrate the factory.

According to General Manager Murakami, the important process for making high-quality tofu is soaking the soybeans in water. In the soaking room, soybeans are soaked in water for 8 hours in summer and 12 hours in winter.

They crack open the soybeans to check how well they are soaked. If soaked too long, they absorb too much water and become tofu without elasticity. Therefore, they don't rely solely on machines but carefully check the soaking condition with human eyes.

Soybeans are ground and cooked, and when nigari (bittern) is mixed with soy milk to solidify it, tofu is complete. But here, they add their special extract, a mixture of oligosaccharide and soybean oil. This is said to be the biggest secret that suppresses the peculiar beany smell of tofu and creates a unique tofu.

They researched to make tofu edible for children who dislike the smell of soybeans and discovered that oligosaccharide has the effect of suppressing the beany smell. Furthermore, adding soybean oil adds richness.

The secret to cheap yet soft meat is cutting technology

The meat factory direct sales store "Yu x Meat" offers super value from beef tongue to steak. The direct sales store is located in Konan City, Aichi Prefecture, about a 10-minute drive from Meitetsu Konan Station. The store is quite small, about 1 tsubo, but on weekends, there can be long lines! Customers order desired products at the counter.

Beef tongue koroyaki is 300 yen for a 100g pack. "Tonchan," a Nagoya specialty of seasoned pork offal, is also 300 yen for a 100g pack. Pork belly skewers are 900 yen for a pack of 20, making each skewer 45 yen.

A particularly popular product is the super cheap "beef kalbi," which started sales in April 2026. Fatty beef kalbi is 100 yen for a 70g pack! This is limited to families with children under junior high school age (up to 5 packs per person) on Saturdays from 10 AM to 11 AM.

Next to the store, there's also a capsule toy machine where you can win meat starting from 500 yen per try. You are guaranteed to win meat worth 500 yen or more.

The appeal of Yu x Meat is its cheap yet soft meat. To uncover its secret, we infiltrate the factory, located about a 5-minute walk from the store.

According to President Goto, it's a frozen meat cutting factory that cuts meat for major companies' retort foods, etc. It can cut in 0.1mm increments, allowing for thin slices, thick slices, and even diced meat. Scraps that cannot be sold as products during processing are bundled and sold at a low price at the factory direct sales store.

The biggest reason they have earned immense trust from major companies for many years and can offer cheap and soft meat is their cutting technology that puts "hidden cuts" into the meat. Even rock-hard frozen meat can have slits made using their proprietary machine. Cheap meat tends to be tough, but making cuts makes it soft.

If too many cuts are made, the meat becomes too soft and loses its texture. Yu x Meat has repeatedly experimented with how deep to make cuts relative to the thickness of the meat, and has achieved a delicate balance of chewiness, softness, and delicious meat flavor through years of research into their cutting technology.

At the head office factory's office, staff reportedly compare meat before and after making cuts every week to confirm the difference in softness and deliciousness.

From CBC TV "DELA LOVER" broadcast on July 1, 2026