By Serkan Toso, Founder, byFood.com
Most tourists who come to Japan are interested in eating different foods while traveling around the country. Japan has roughly 850,000 restaurant facilities, but only a small fraction of those restaurants have English menus. However, these menus are often written in the romanized spelling of Japanese words or mistranslated in English.
Currently, only 4% of restaurants in Japan have an online reservation option; and most of these restaurants need an English site to do so. This leaves tourists with only two options: wait in a long line and possibly find out upon entry that they can’t even read the menu or be turned away because they couldn’t make a reservation. Many tourists may not even bother patronizing a restaurant that is not prominently advertising that they have English menus available. For these reasons, I initially decided to start my business, byFood, to bridge the gap between Japanese restaurants and hungry non-native, non-Japanese-speaking tourists. Since our founding in 2019, byFood has become a space for cultural exchange, experiences, laughter, and new friendships between guests and hosts over world-class Japanese cuisine.
Studying Management Information Systems while attending Bogazici University in Istanbul gave me the advantage of understanding the administration, marketing, and technical aspects of running a business. After representing Turkey in South Africa at the prestigious One Young World summit, an annual summit that brings together young leaders representing 190+ countries and 250+ organizations to confront humanity’s biggest challenges, I moved to rural Japan to study eBusiness Management Master’s Degree.
While studying at an international school in rural Japan, I realized that my fellow international students needed to understand and speak Japanese to make restaurant reservations. As it was 2015, the location must have been the issue, I thought. However, after graduating in 2016 and moving to central Tokyo, Japan’s most populated city, I still had the same problem. Tokyo is the most popular destination in Japan, yet there were no online booking systems or assistance available to non-native speakers; without needing to speak, read, and write Japanese. This obstacle would serve as the inspiration for what would eventually become my company.
In July 2019, we launched ByFood.com and initially promoted our services through social media influencer marketing. Our approach proved successful, with 100 million views on YouTube within the first six months of launching. However, during the COVID pandemic, border restrictions forced us to focus on the domestic market, where restaurants are still very traditional and reluctant to adopt modern booking technology. We alleviated some of this hesitation by offering to help create social media accounts, build websites, produce product photos and videos, and revive their general marketing strategies. We also kept by Food’s YouTube channel fresh and relevant by posting at least one video weekly during the pandemic while engaging with viewers and subscribers in the comment sections.
I quickly learned that businesspeople must follow many “rules” to do business in Japan to create the best relationship with potential business partners. As a foreigner starting a company in the Japanese business world, there was a lot of trial and error before I could feel comfortable and confident when meeting with those who were brought up in a different culture than mine. The best way to succeed as a small business in Japan is to show immense respect to current and potential business partners. I have embraced many aspects of Japanese industry in my company, using a horizontal management style and fostering a collaborative work environment for my employees.
Intending to create shared values worldwide, byFood generates money for a different charitable cause every month. Through our “Food For Happiness” project, a portion of every paid restaurant reservation and experience booking is donated to that month’s charity. Our donations have gone towards causes such as providing school uniforms to children in India and Bangladesh; providing school meals to children in Sudan, Mawali, India, and Shiga Prefecture. We have also donated towards general education in Sudan and food and nutrition education in Vietnam and Cambodia. Our patrons can benefit from using our website while helping a much greater cause.
ByFood is a unique online platform revolutionizing how tourists experience Japan’s famous food scene by offering easy access to cooking classes, restaurant reservations, and other Japanese products. With products being available worldwide through the eCommerce online marketplace, people can now purchase Japanese food products and have them delivered to their doorstep. ByFood aims to create a way for non-Japanese speakers to enjoy Japan’s historical food culture while creating meaningful experiences.
byFood is an online platform that is revolutionising how visitors to Japan experience the country’s famous food scene, by offering easy access to restaurant reservations, cooking classes and traditional Japanese food experiences
