The rope surrounding the horns references Japanese sumo-wrestling, where the word "Yokozuna" is equivalent to "winner," representing the quality of the food served in Yoshinoya.

[citation needed] On December 27, 1958, the chain's business model was changed from self-employed restaurants to a stock company, as an attempt to gain more profit.

[citation needed] In the early 2000s, Yoshinoya, along with other chains such as McDonald's, triggered a price war in Japan by introducing a regular beef bowl dish for ¥280, or around US$3.

[7] Yoshinoya has a chain of stores in Japan, the United States, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.

The menu includes standard-serving (並盛, namimori, or nami), large-serving (大盛, ōmori), or extra-large-serving (特盛, tokumori)[9] beef bowls, pork bowls (豚丼, butadon),[10] raw eggs (to stir and pour on top, sometimes mixed with soy sauce), soft-boiled eggs (半熟玉子, hanjuku tamago), miso soup and pickles (called oshinkō [お新香] in its menu; a kind of asazuke).

They also serve red ginger (beni shōga), spice, and Japanese tea (お茶, ocha) free of charge.

On June 14, 2011, Yoshinoya in Japan started serving eel bowls (鰻丼, unadon) as a standard seasonal menu to be offered until the latter part of July.

[citation needed] The first location east of the Mississippi River opened on 42nd Street off Times Square, New York City, in 2002.

In March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, indoor dining was temporarily abandoned, with take-away, drive-thru or pick-up service still available.

That same year, Hop Hing Group Holdings, the operator of Yoshinoya and Dairy Queen in China, decided to go private.

[14] As of November 2024, there are 169 Yoshinoya stores in Indonesia in the Greater Jakarta Metropolitan Area, Surabaya, Bandung, Bali, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Medan, Solo, Malang, Makassar, Manado, Palembang, Pekanbaru, Pontianak, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan, Samarinda, Lombok, Lampung, Bengkulu, Cikarang, Karawang, Garut, Kudus, Madiun, Kediri, Batu, Sidoarjo, Mojokerto, Gresik, Jember, and Singkawang.

[1] In 1997, Yoshinoya entered the Singaporean market through a franchise agreement with Wing Tai Investment & Development Pte.

[1] In 2013, the first Yoshinoya franchise in Cambodia opened on King's Road in Siem Reap with a franchise agreement signed with Meas Development Co., Ltd.[1] There are currently around two Yoshinoya stores in Cambodia as of September 2022, with both of them being located in Phnom Penh International Airport and Siem Reap International Airport.

In late 2001, a domestic bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) incident critically damaged beef bowl sales.

News of the removal of this item from Yoshinoya's menu caused its fans and non-fans alike to queue in massive lines at its restaurants all around Japan to taste what might be their last beef bowl for a long time.

In January 2006, imports stopped again because inspectors found banned cattle parts in a veal shipment from the United States.

In June 2006, Japan lifted the ban on imports again, and on July 31, 2006, Yoshinoya reposted the letter promising to resume serving the beef bowl in about two months.

An announcement of banned cattle products in a Californian beef import on April 21, 2008, did not halt the company's plans, as they felt they had enough stock from other sources to avoid a recall.

Its CEO, Marvin Hung, was criticized by protesters for attending a rally for Hong Kong police organized by pro-Beijing camps.

The advertisement featured a traditional Japanese food, chikuwa; in Cantonese, the word sounds similar to "dog that tears paper".

[30] On April 16, 2022, Yoshinoya managing director Masaaki Itō attracted controversy over his statements as an instructor during a Waseda University marketing course.

[35] On April 19, 2022, the company announced Itō's dismissal, calling that his statements "could not be tolerated from the point of view of human rights and gender issues".

[36][32] The controversy led to Yoshinoya suspending an upcoming marketing campaign starring Nicole Fujita and rollout of a new product that took 10 years to develop.