Tatsuya Sekito, President and CEO of Kuradashi Co., Ltd.　

Build a brand image and help solve the food waste problem 

President and CEO of Kuradashi Co., Ltd.　Tatsuya Sekito　(Sekito Tatsuya)

■ Profile

Born in Osaka in 1971. Joined a general trading company in 1995.
After being stationed in China during the period of rapid economic growth, he went independent. After serving as the executive vice president of a strategic consulting firm, he founded Kuradashi Co., Ltd. in 2014 to solve the food waste problem. He was selected as the Kanto region representative for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 Japan. He is a council member of the Japan Association for the World Food Programme (WFP). He is also a member of the National Committee and the International Committee for International Standardization on Food Loss and Waste.

Tatsuya Sekito, president of Kuradashi Co., Ltd., said that after witnessing the social problems caused by food waste, he "felt like I wanted to solve this social issue." After working for a strategic consulting firm, he founded the company in 2014. We spoke to him about the changing social climate regarding food waste and the path he took to create the system. 

Ever since my first year of high school, I'd wanted to work for a trading company. While most people start researching their job search around the summer of their third year, I knew exactly what I wanted, so I started working on it from my first year. I felt job hunting was a great opportunity to see different industries for free and hear from a variety of working professionals. I also looked into the mindset and corporate culture of various industries and whether they matched with the image of the person I wanted to be. For example, when I attended a seminar on the hotel industry, I felt that customer service was more suited to people who excel in one thing. Personally, I'm not someone who excels in one thing, but rather someone who can do a jack of all trades, so I decided that customer service wasn't for me. Ultimately, I joined a trading company, which had been my high school dream. However, even while I was job hunting, I always thought, "If the opportunity arose, I'd like to start my own business."

■Social trends are not something that one person creates, but something that everyone works together to create.

After joining a trading company, I had the opportunity to be stationed in China. There, I was shocked to see the prototype of the social problem of food waste. China's greatest attraction is its cheap labor force, so factories around the world search for cheaper and better products and mass-produce them in China. My job in China was no exception, managing production at an apparel factory. However, mass production inevitably results in substandard products. The reality was that a large amount of clothes that were still wearable had to be discarded.
This is the same structure as food waste. We mass-produce food, but we can't consume it all, and even edible food has to be thrown away. I began to wonder if there was some way to change this structure. At first, no one took me seriously, but as ideas like the SDGs gradually spread, more and more people began to listen to what I had to say. So I thought, "Maybe now is the time to start a business," and founded my company.

■Kuradashi is good! Build a brand image based on trust

Are you aware of the "one-third rule" in food distribution? Food is usually labeled with a production date and a best-before date, but this is a business practice (rule) that prohibits delivery to retail stores once one-third of the best-before date has passed. This rule means that there is no place to sell food through normal sales channels, and it is possible that still-edible products will have to be thrown away, leading to food waste.
Kuradashi has therefore created a new market called "1th distribution" that does not disrupt normal distribution routes, and sells products at risk of food waste at the social good market "Kuradashi." For example, wine does not have an expiration date. However, most wine is disposed of the following year due to packaging changes and storage fees. Kuradashi purchases such products from businesses and sells them at a discounted price. A portion of sales is also donated to and supported by organizations that contribute to society. This allows businesses to contribute to society without having to throw away products, thereby increasing added value. In addition to benefiting both parties, it also enhances their brand image by showing support for efforts to reduce food waste.
Of course, there are times when sales are uncertain depending on the amount of stock and the short expiration date, but even in those times we try to prevent food waste by lowering the price and publishing information in our email newsletter at an early stage. We would like to continue our work in the future, with the aim of solving social issues such as food waste, which is piling up in the world, and to carry out activities that are socially, environmentally and economically sound.

■Message to university students

I want you to believe in your own potential and act outside of the box. We live in a diverse age in many ways. You may feel like you're drowning in an information society, but it's important to know and see the essence of things. I think it's important to understand not just what you can see, but the mechanisms at work within. You can only judge things based on your own knowledge, so take action and take on challenges that interest you, rather than just the information you've researched, and learn from your failures to grow.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on October 4, 2023 by Satoru Sudo, a fourth-year student at Rikkyo University