Spreading Happiness Through Food
For every food experience booking or restaurant reservation made on byFood,
Tablecross Inc. donates 10 school meals to children in need.
Just by booking a food experience or placing a restaurant reservation on byFood, users can donate meals to children in need.
Since Tablecross was founded, it has been part of the business’s mission to spread happiness through food by operating as a CSV (creating shared value) company. Through the Tablecross restaurant reservation app, the company donated school meals to children in developing countries for every reservation that was processed. ByFood also started with an integrated donation program, raising funds for various charitable projects. Now, Tablecross and byFood are focused on pursuing the “Zero Hunger” Sustainable Development Goal, feeding children in need while providing users with deep, cultural food experiences.
318713
Total Meal Donations
The equivalent of 318,713 meals has been donated to children in need through the Food for Happiness program.
Previous Projects
In the past, Tablecross has partnered with different NPOs/NGOs to raise money for various charitable projects. A few of these projects include:
- Feeding school children in rural Darjeeling, India with ESA Japan
- Providing school uniforms for children in India with Aid for Child Trust
- Nutrition workshops and healthy snacks for Cambodian students with Nom Popok
- Providing school uniforms to children in Bangladesh with ESA Japan
- Sustainable vegetable garden project in South Africa with Japan International Volunteer Center
- Providing school lunches for children impacted by COVID-19 in Shiga Prefecture with Food Bank Biwako
- Providing education and school meals for South Sudanese children in Yida Refugee Camp with Japan International Volunteer Center
- Educational support project for children in the slums in Uttar Pradesh, India with Aid for Child Trust
Goals
Regional Revitalization
ByFood aims to solve over-tourism and assist regional revitalization in Japan by working with local governments to promote Japanese food culture in off-the-beaten-path areas; utilizing media, especially YouTube, to raise awareness of the distinct local culinary and cultural traditions across Japan. As of February 2021, the Japan by Food YouTube channel has over 1.5 million views and byFood’s collaboration videos have over 78.5 million views.
Accessibility
ByFood increases accessibility for foreign tourists in Japan with a bilingual restaurant reservation system and food experience booking service. About 70% of travelers come to Japan with gastronomic tourism as their main motivation, but 50% of travelers only visit Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, missing out on Japan’s distinct regional experiences. Due to the language barrier, travelers find themselves limited to cities that are already strained by over-tourism. Meanwhile, lesser-traveled and remote areas continue to be overlooked despite their potential. By bridging the language gap, byFood aims to make Japan’s rich cultural experiences more accessible to all.
Solving Food Waste
ByFood is a social business striving toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger. For every guest in an experience booking or restaurant reservation, ten school lunch meals are donated to children in need through the Food for Happiness program. So far, byFood has donated the equivalent of 300,000 school lunches to children around the world. Working with Japanese food producers and local chefs, byFood also aims to reduce food waste in Japan.
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