Hello everyone~💚
The midsummer heat has finally begun to subside. I feel like I can drink as many beers as I want since I sweat a lot haha. In the summer, I want to drink light and dry beer, and in the winter, I want to drink strong-tasting craft beer. Well, to be honest, any alcohol is fine!!
In the previous episode, “A Rookie snack bar mama-san, Nana vol.2” I introduced myself! This time, I would like to write about why I decided to work at our company, Snack Yokocho. Lately, I have been getting asked a lot of questions at events and by people I work with. This is why I’m writing about How I met Igarashi, the representative of the original Sunajo®︎ and Snack Yokocho! ! (In the next episode, I will explain what the Sunajo®︎ is.)
Contents
The Key person of my new career is Akito-mama, who I met in NY🔑
I met Igarashi in February, only half a year ago. As I mentioned in “A Rookie snack bar mama-san, Nana vol.1”, at that time I was working in New York at my previous job. After working hard, I enjoyed going out for drinks with expats I met there. Almost everyday I went out for drinking and I found out Snack & bar “Aquihito” in NY. (Click here about Aquihito!) Akito Mama always entertains customers with Kansai dialect and creates a place where we can easily make new friends. This is why I’ve started to visit Aquihito often♡
Basically, I just love drinking and meeting new people, so I go to snack bars and bars. At the same time, I’ve been interested in the snack bars and bars as a 3rd community, which I experienced on when I was in Toronto with working holiday visa.
This is where I used to work in Toronto
If you want to do something, tell the people around you!
Around that time, I met my mother on a trip, and I told her “I think it would be fun to start snack bar after leaving my company.” She said, “Think carefully, since it sounds like having risks and loosing your career. But it’ll be fun!” It was more positive than I expected.
Thanks to her advice, I was able to move toward something that excited me. Then, I started sharing my plan to friends in New York, and when I told Aquihito’s mama, He told me “There is a women who is doing interesting activities, and you might be able to get some support!” , it was Sunajo®︎ Igarashi, who had already been actively exposed to the media👏
Aquihito!! I LOVE this place and him so much!!
Nice to meet you, high five?
After I started thinking about opening a snack bar and researching the neo-snack industry. While collecting variety of information, there were a lot of negative information, such as the industry being in a downturn and it being difficult to keep stores afloat especially after covid. Still, I believe that “the 3rd place” of small snacks is a great way to bring smiles to the faces of not only friends but also people close to me, such as new people I meet. So that I decided to do what I could and pushed forward with a positive mind.
It was during this time that I met Igarashi for the first time in April of this year.
I had researched Snack Yokocho efforts in advance, but as I heard about their future goals, I became more interested. I also remember being excited because I wanted to become a snack mama, so I wanted to be familiar with the industry, see snacks from a different perspective, and be able to create new type of way. As we were talking about what Snack Yokocho wanted to do and what I wanted to, We found ourselves high-fiving each other!!!
Thanks to the connections I received from people, I ended up joining Snack Yokocho as a member.
Igarashi and I at the event
