Get to know us.
Founded in 2014, Tablecross Inc. is a CSV (Creating Shared Value) company that aims to solve the UN’s “No Hunger” SDG while sharing Japanese food culture with the world. So far, the company has donated the equivalent of 300,000 school lunches to children in need.
Tablecross Inc.’s team is also passionate about bridging the gap between global travelers and local areas of Japan; focusing on regional revitalization, reducing language barriers, and tackling food insecurity and food waste. Through working with local governments, restaurant clients, and individual hosts, Tablecross aims to attract foreign visitors to lesser-visited areas of Japan and combat over-tourism.
Spreading happiness through food!
Just by enjoying a meal in Japan, users help children in developing countries get access to nutritious meals, so they can grow up healthy and happy, and ready to change the world.
Greetings from Joho Kaoru
After witnessing children in poverty while traveling in Indonesia at a young age, I resolved to help make a change. I had heard of the CSV (Creating Shared Value) company model in America, which aims to solve global issues through a business that creates positive social value, and decided to bring the idea to Japan.
In 2014, when I was just 20 years old, I founded Tablecross Inc. and developed a restaurant reservation application that donated school lunch meals to children in developing countries.
Today, I have a network of over 1400 restaurants across Japan. I have offered consulting services to restaurants and brands, and worked on promotional projects with MAFF (the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries) as well as local governments across Japan. With my connections and experience in the food industry, I understand the interests of my clients, and offer creative solutions to springboard them to success both domestically and internationally.
Besides our Food for Happiness project, which donates school meals to children in developing countries, another company goal is regional revitalization across Japan. We especially aim to work with businesses that share our interests in sustainability and the SDGs. In recognition, Serkan and I have been selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia – Class of 2021, in the Social Impact category.
Greetings from Serkan Toso
Coming from Bursa, Turkey to study at the International University of Japan, I hadn’t expected to start my own business here. But after falling in love with Japan’s distinct culinary culture, I decided to stay and launch my own food tourism website, and have been living here for 6 years.
In 2018, I created Tokyo by Food, a platform for food experiences in Tokyo with an integrated donation system that gave meals to children in need. After meeting Joho and hearing about her similarly charitable restaurant reservation app, we decided to merge. Now, we operate byFood.com, which offers over 370 experiences in 30 prefectures, and have plans to expand across all 47.
In the past few years, I have found that the travel industry norms are changing. People used to see travel agents and purchase a tour package. But now, due to technology, the way people plan their travels is so different; it’s personalized, infinitely customizable, and is inspired by online content and social media. As a company, we have prioritized platforms such as YouTube and Instagram to reach a global audience.
As a foreign resident in Japan, I understand the obstacles that foreign tourists face here, and am equipped to solve their problems. And with a background in digital marketing, I have adapted to new technologies and am able to help other businesses keep up with the changing landscape of the travel industry and attract international attention.
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