My name is Arai and I work at Monosasusha Shokuken (provisional name), a food-related project launched by Monosasu.
It's already been three months since I joined the company.
A year ago, I never thought I would join Monosus and work in the food industry.
Since I was given the chance to write an article for the Monosasu website, I would like to take this opportunity to tell my colleagues who will be working with me in the future, and to tell the people who have supported me and helped me until now, about my journey so far and the path I want to walk in the future. I would be happy if you would take a look at it when you have time!
The journey so far
When I tell people about my career so far, they often say that I have had a unique career. To be honest, I don't think of it that way. I just treasured the connections I had and worked hard every day to do what I could, but if I were to go into detail it would take too long, so I'll keep it very brief and tell you about my journey so far!
My career started in soccer.
Although I was able to devote every day to what I loved, I suffered a serious injury and was unable to continue, so I started looking for a different path at the age of 27. When the manager of the Wendy's where I worked part-time as a student decided to go independent and open a cafe, I was fortunate enough to be invited to join, and that was the start of my career in the food business. This was my first big turning point.
There, he discovered the profession of barista, and worked hard with his colleagues to perfect his path. He was passionate about his job and enjoyed a fulfilling life, but the redevelopment of the area in front of Yurakucho Station, where the cafe was located, led to the business closing down. After many twists and turns, his second major turning point came in October 2007, when he was hired as Food Manager at Google Japan to help set up the food team. (If you're interested, you can read more about what happened up to this point in a previous article by newspicks .)
My nine years of experience at Google are the foundation of who I am today. I was able to experience truly rich times and experiences, and my network expanded rapidly. In fact, I also met Monosus at this time. (I'll skip the story of my time at Google, as it's been covered in articles by Forbes and other publications.)
It was a tough, rewarding and rewarding environment, but to be honest, every year I felt a growing sense of crisis. That is, I felt that perhaps I was not growing in such a favorable environment (although the work we were doing was difficult and tough), and that perhaps I was not the only one enjoying such a good environment.
Google Japan had also gone through a growth phase from a startup and was approaching the time to organize, and the number of graduates had increased significantly. I also decided to graduate in early 2016. I graduated from the Google Food Team at the end of 2016, when I had completed two major projects.
I joined Nonpi, my previous employer, because I wanted to give back to the soccer industry, the cafe industry, and Google, all of whom had helped me, while also taking advantage of my experience on the Google Food Team. Nonpi is a food tech company that operates a variety of businesses, with a focus on catering. Mr. Kakinuma, the founder and president of Nonpi, is from the same generation as me and has been my friend for 10 years. He is passionate about food and has a talent for business. That was when Mr. Kakinuma invited me to join.
As a result, I ended up spending an intense three and a half years there, but during that time, I was able to be involved as an executive in launching and expanding new businesses, building the company's foundation, and ultimately growing the company to the point where it was looking to go public, which was an invaluable experience in a positive sense. I made many great friends and just as the company was entering its growth phase, I chose to graduate again in May of this year.
Why I joined Monosus
In my previous job at Nonpi, I was proud of the management I played a part in and contributed to the growth of the business. However, the more the business grew, the less I felt connected to people. I realized that my enthusiasm was cooling down even though the business was growing smoothly under the mission of bringing more smiles to the world through food. I had never experienced anything like this in my life, and I thought about why.
What I realized was very simple: creating a place to connect through food, building a community, and being involved in it even in a small way was what I wanted to put my passion into.
At that moment, an image suddenly came to my mind: a scene from an event called THINK DISH held by Google.
This event was created together with Manabe, a long-time acquaintance and someone I personally consider a mentor (laughs), who is Monosus CDO and manager of the Food Hub Project, and involved a variety of producers, communicators, and participants.
In a word, it is an event to express gratitude for food by saying "itadakimasu" (thank you for the meal) and "gochisousama" (thank you for the meal), and to think about food as much as possible. That was the event called THINK DISH.
Every day, each ingredient in the food served on the table has a different background, such as the natural environment in which it was grown, the producer, the distributor, the person who cooked it, etc. In our daily lives, it is rare to be conscious of all of these things while eating, so this was an experience where we could think about them almost too much while eating.
Even though it was an event many years ago, I still haven't forgotten the smiles of all the people who participated and were involved, and the enthusiasm of that time. I realized that it's not just about filling your stomach, but about creating a community through "food," and that this is the way of eating in your daily life that I value. In fact, the Monosus Food Hub Project is continuing such efforts, even on a small scale, and that's what made me decide to join Monosus.
What lies ahead
As for how we will proceed with our food business in the future, we are currently thinking about how we can do so while cultivating various relationships both inside and outside the company. Our direction is consistent to a certain extent, and we would like to expand the small food circulation system of "Grow, Make, Eat, Connect" that we are promoting in the Food Hub Project to various regions, companies, and businesses. We are confident that there is great potential for synergy with Monosus's main business, so to be honest, I can't stop being excited about what we can do in the future.
Manabe often says this, and I have always thought the same way, but I believe that "work" and "life" should not be separated, but should be in a relationship that is close to each other. I would like to create and spread a "way of doing things" where "work" and "life" exist together through everyday "food."
This has already become a long article.
In the context of what Monosasu Shashokuken (provisional name) is looking forward to in the future, I would love to have Manabe join us and we could dig deeper and share our thoughts on this on another occasion!
ARAI Shigeta