About Us
ByFood.com is Japan's one-stop platform for foodie travelers. Here, you can book food experiences like cooking classes and food tours, make easy restaurant reservations without using Japanese, and order gourmet products from local businesses. We also provide online experiences, blog posts about Japanese food culture, and videos featuring Japanese chefs, craftspeople and neighborhoods.
ByFood makes Japan's food scene accessible to everyone, dissolving the language barrier and providing everything travelers need to have a fulfilling (and filling) trip to Japan. And if you don't find what you're looking for on the platform, our VIP Gourmet Concierge will create the perfect food experience that's tailor-made for you.
By sharing Japanese food culture with the world, byFood strives to bring locals and travelers together, help small businesses, and celebrate authentic Japanese cuisine. Combining hands-on food experiences with our extensive and comprehensive articles and videos, we hope to encourage adventurous eating and savvy traveling in Japan.
Spreading happiness through food!
ByFood was launched in July 2019 by Serkan Toso, however, the platform first began in January 2018 as “Tokyo by Food,” a booking platform for food experiences in Tokyo.
A lifelong volunteer interested in solving social issues, Serkan integrated a donation system into his business model, pledging to give 10 school lunches to children in Cambodia for each person who booked a food experience. In recognition of this commitment, Tokyo by Food was chosen as one of the world’s top social initiatives by One Young World in April 2018.At the same time, Kaoru Joho, CEO of Tablecross Inc., was developing a similarly charitable Japanese business: a restaurant reservation app which also donated school lunch meals to children in developing countries. Shaped by early experiences witnessing poverty while traveling in Indonesia, Kaoru was an early proponent of the CSV (Creating Shared Value) company model in Japan. Together, Serkan and Kaoru realized the combined potential of their two businesses to effect positive change and decided to merge.
The founders both agreed that donating lunch meals, though a good first step, was not enough. ByFood’s Food for Happiness project has since evolved to include a wider scope of projects run by NGOs that provide not just food, but also housing and education, to children in need. The goal is to create a large-scale social impact so that children worldwide, rather than worrying about finding their next meal or a place to sleep, can start dreaming and planning for a better future.
