A restaurant that has collected food that the Yoyogi neighbors and Monosus members want to eat. FarmMart & Friends Project Manager Hiroko Tanemoto

Hello, I am Emiko Tobita, a freelance writer. This is my second time writing for the Monosasu website.

When my fellow writers Kyoko Sugimoto and Nozomi Nakajima first asked me if I wanted to write an article for the Monosasu website, they told me that Monosasu had renovated an old building in Yoyogi and set up a shop in a corner of the office.

The name of the shop is "FarmMart & Friends". It is a grocery store that sells two types of donuts, handmade jams, and organic vegetables and seasonings sourced from familiar producers all over the country. It opened in March 2022 as a project of " MONOSUS Shokuken ", a food business started by MONOSUS.

Thinking it would be interesting, I immediately went to check it out, and inside the small store, I found a wide selection of ingredients that you don't often see in supermarkets, but that you just can't help but reach out for. In front of the store, a customer was looking after the dog of a customer who had come to shop, and the dog became so attached to the customer that it didn't want to leave even after the customer had finished shopping... it was a heartwarming scene.

This shop has a wonderful atmosphere, but how did it start and what is its goal? We spoke to Hiroko Tanemoto, project manager.

In Kamiyama, you could see everything from making the food to eating it.

-- First of all, could you tell us what led you to work at Monosus?

When I was thinking about changing jobs, I met Monosus CDO and Food Hub Project Manager Manabe-san, and when I told him that I was interested in food, he said, "Why don't you come to Kamiyama once?" When I actually went there, I was invited to work there, and a month later I moved to Kamiyama.

Food Hub Project in Kamiyama Town

-- The Kamiyama Food Hub Project (hereafter referred to as Food Hub) aims to connect small producers and consumers with the concepts of "local production for local food - grown locally and eaten locally" and "connecting small things." What was it like living in Kamiyama?

At Tanemoto Food Hub, there are a team that does farming, a team that makes bread, a team that runs a restaurant, and a team that makes processed foods. They buy vegetables from local grandparents, so you can see the faces of the people who make them and the whole process until they reach the customer. I thought it was rare to have such a complete visibility.

Sometimes we have vegetables and fruits, but sometimes we don't, so we can clearly sense when they are in season, and everyone has a lot of wisdom for preparing for times when they don't have anything. There were some inconveniences, but there were many times when I felt rich and comfortable, and it was a really enjoyable life.

Food Hub members eating a staff meal together

What's the point of bringing what you do in Kamiyama to Tokyo?

-- Monosus partnered with Food Hub to open "Kamapan & Friends Natural Products Center" in Ginza for a limited time in 2020. Why did you adopt the concept of "Tomosan tomoshoku - growing with friends, eating with friends" at this time?

We all came up with the concept , but we couldn't find a word that really fit. We had been thinking about the meaning of bringing Kamiyama's "locally produced food" to Tokyo... We felt that if we just had ingredients sent to us and people bought them, there would be a disconnect with our activities in Kamiyama.

However, with the creation of the phrase "Friends make, friends eat," we were able to think, "We are both makers and eaters, and we are also the link that delivers what our friends make to our friends. We want to create a store where producers and customers are all part of the circle." Monosus' Tokyo members buy what they like and want to eat, and also buy local products from customers' hometowns. We had an image of a store like that in our mind, and we all said, "Let's go with this."

Kamapan & Friends (Natural Products Store), which was open for a limited time in Ginza

-- How did it feel when you actually tried it?

Tanemoto : To be honest, I think I was too caught up in "how it should be" and got too big-headed. I think that sometimes it was hard for customers to understand and felt stuffy. After the launch, I returned to Kamiyama to provide support from the rear, and after 9pm, I had online meetings with the store manager, Yuge-chan, and we worried together. Looking back now, I think it was important to start with things like "delicious," "fun," and "cute."

On the other hand, we also received some happy responses. The vegetables sold more than we expected, and people who work nearby said, "This is a great help." We were surprised that we could sell so many vegetables in the middle of a city like Ginza. We even had a customer say, "I'm from Shizuoka, and I've always used this ingredient, but I couldn't get it in Tokyo, so I'm glad." People like that continue to come to our store even after we moved to Yoyogi.

If this becomes an opportunity for members to come to the office and say, "Let's go buy something delicious,"

-- Was it originally decided that you would move the store to Yoyogi after Ginza?

Tanemoto : No, we had the option of just ending it there. But we thought it would be a waste to let go of the experience and learning we had in Ginza, the customers we had connected with, and the kitchen equipment. As a food hub, we thought it would be good to have a place where we could connect with people in Tokyo and with producers from all over the country.

In addition, we also intend to "create a place where we can express what MONOSUS Shokuken is doing" and "create an opportunity for MONOSUS members to come to the office." Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has progressed and opportunities for members to gather at the office have decreased, but we would be happy if they thought, "Let's go eat something delicious, let's go buy something," and "We want our clients to stop by the office too."

-- Did you return to Tokyo from Kamiyama to run FarmMart & Friends?

Tanemoto : That's right. I had thought about this and that through the Ginza store, but rather than continuing to do it from afar, I wanted to get my hands dirty on the ground. I have almost no experience starting a store from scratch, and I was quite hesitant because I lacked confidence, but I had received support from many people in Ginza, so I thought I could do it if I was with the whole team, and I jumped in.

The day we installed the floors in the store. Not only the carpenters, but also Tsuneo Nagasaka, who designed the store, and the store's management team helped paint the floors.

Super soft doughnuts filled with seasonal jams and whole grain vegan doughnuts you'll want to eat every day

-- At FarmMart & Friends, you make and offer "super soft donuts" and "multigrain vegan donuts."

Yuri Nomura of eatrip (Harajuku, Tokyo) , who helped us with the development of the seed product, advised us, "Instead of creating something new, why not make use of the many delicious things already in Kamiyama?" So, first of all, we decided to create an ultra-soft donut by arranging the dough of the ultra-soft bread that the Food Hub bread team was serving at Kamapan.

However, since we, the staff, also eat it every day, it would be hard to eat only sweet things. We wanted something salty, so Yuri suggested making multigrain doughnuts like onigiri as another mainstay. We asked Kyoko Hirose, who used to work at Levain (Tomigaya, Tokyo) and also helped out at the Ginza store, to develop it, and she made something incredibly delicious, and we thought, "We could eat this every day, we could survive."

A rice ball-like "multigrain vegan doughnut" made with more than 10 types of grains

-- I hear the jams are also homemade in the store.

We buy fruits and vegetables through face-to-face relationships, such as buying apples from a farmer connected to Tanemoto who has just opened a new apple orchard, or making jam from Ome's delicious beets. We make and sell these jams in the shop. We also put this jam in our super soft donuts, and although before we started, our customers kept saying, "It's hard to eat something sweet every day," they actually eat it willingly because it's so tasty (laughs).

The jams, which make use of the ingredients received from the makers, change with the seasons.

Purchase small quantities from small producers and sell through face-to-face relationships

-- What other things do you make besides the ones you make in your shop?

If there's one thing Tanemoto Ginza didn't have, it's alcohol. We add new beer and wine every two weeks from Kamiyama, Okutama, Kamakura, Chigasaki, and other areas. Monosus members often drink at the counter, too. For example, a multigrain doughnut topped with prosciutto, cheese, homemade mixed nuts, and a glass of wine.

The vegetables change depending on the season, but we source them from a variety of sources, including the Food Hub's Tsunagu Farm and Satoyama no Kai in Kamiyama, Farm Vegiko in Kochi, Ome Farm in Ome, Tokyo, Kinoko Mura in Nagano, and Sanrizuka One Pack Vegetables in Chiba.

Craft beer and natural wine are popular items!

-- I heard the tofu is delicious too.

You should definitely try Tanemoto Tofu. It's a tofu shop called "Onoda Tofu Shop" in Higashi Nakano, and they're really particular about the beans they use, so it's really delicious. At first they said they didn't do wholesale, but when I asked them about it, they said they could sell it to me if I came to pick it up. I wanted to buy it regardless of the cost, and I wanted everyone to try it, so I go to Higashi Nakano every other week.

-- Do you have any purchasing standards or policies?

When we sell through wholesalers that handle organic and additive-free foods, the selection of products tends to be similar, so we purchase products in small quantities from small producers that we find and sell them in small quantities.

That said, we didn't travel all over Japan to select these, but rather it was mostly human connections and chance encounters, such as recommendations from people involved with FarmMart & Friends. These are things that we just happened to come across, thought were really delicious, and wanted to share them with everyone, and pass them on to future generations.

Even if someone recommends something to me, I don't purchase it if I feel it is "convenient to have but not necessary," and I don't stock a variety of items from the same producer. Rather, I make pinpointed selections, such as "the soy sauce is from here" or "the miso is from here."

A customer told me, "This was my motivation to live in this town."

-- FarmMart & Friends continues the concept of "making things with friends and eating with friends" while aiming to "become rooted in the Yoyogi neighborhood."

Tanemoto: It's a bit like "food autonomy," but I think distance is important to ensure we have food to eat and to support each other when something happens. Since I opened the shop, I have the feeling that the locals think, "If I come here, I can find something I want to eat." Recently, a customer who recently moved nearby told me, "Because of this shop and the Shiomi bakery, I felt that we could make it in this town."

To celebrate the opening, our neighbor, Shiomi-san, baked bread for us.

-- That's amazing.

Tanemoto : I was surprised, but also happy. Because I wanted to be "a store that sells what people in this town want to eat," not just "a convenient natural foods store in a shopping mall." In fact, mothers and children stop by on their way home from kindergarten, and one businessman buys wine from us every week. We've even had foreigners who welcome us, saying, "Welcome to our neighborhood!" Monosus isn't a newcomer; our office was originally here, but... (laughs).

But I feel like opening the shop has changed how we see our town. Previously, the way we walked from the station to the office was just an ordinary residential area, but now we have more opportunities to talk to customers along the way, saying things like "Good morning!", "Have a nice day!", and "It looks like it's going to rain tonight!", and our perception of the neighborhood has improved dramatically.

--Does it feel different from when you were in Ginza?

There are a lot of seeds . We have a wide range of customers, from young people who come from far away just for the donuts, to locals who drop in on their way to and from school or on their way out for a walk. One thing that has surprised me is that the vegetables and alcohol we stock are selling better than we initially expected. I think it was a good idea to keep the concept up front and not make it too formal. First-time customers are often drawn to our store because of things like "the paper bags are stylish" or "the donuts look delicious."

Among them, people who are interested ask questions about the ingredients and the people who make them, and we talk to people who have been there many times, saying things like, "Oh, so you like this," and since most of the people there love to eat, we have lively conversations. I think that kind of atmosphere is just right.

So that both the cook and the eater can be happy

-- You said at the beginning that you were interested in food, but why food?

Tanemoto: That's a really difficult question to answer....I've loved eating since I was a child, and anything related to food gets me excited, so I'm happy when there's an abundance of food.

But then I tried various things, like, do I want to be a farmer, do I want to cook? But it was all wrong. I joined the Food Hub Project and was in charge of public relations and managing the EC site, but I was the only one who didn't make things, and that felt quite right. I was in a position to organize the back so that the people who make things could work comfortably. I guess I like to see people lively. When the people who make things are happy, the people who eat them are also happy. I think I like helping out behind the scenes.

-- You need both people to take the lead and people to support you from behind. Finally, can you tell us about anything you would like to do at the store in the future?

Tanemoto : Basically, we want to run our shop steadily as a place that the locals can use on a daily basis. After all, we do most of our shopping there ourselves. On top of that, we think it would be good to plan some events. We could invite crafters to make cheese, hold a craft beer and taco event in the summer, and teach children how to make donuts with local groups. We want to make our shop one where the people who come can also participate in the creation of things.

-- I'm looking forward to it! Thank you for sharing your story with me.

place
3-9-5 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
About 7 minutes walk from JR Yoyogi Station or Shinjuku Station
Opening times
Weekdays 11:00 ~ 20:00
Holidays 11:00 ~ 18:00
Closed Day
Wednesdays and Thursdays (open on public holidays, closed the following day)
phone
070-1381-8042
Instagram