Japan Markets ViewESG A to Z Vol. 15
KURADASHI (1)

May 10, 2024

Topic

Introduction of the business overview and achievements of Kuradashi (Ticker: 5884), a company committed to reducing food loss and supporting social contribution

Interview Summary

Could you give us an overview of your business?: Kuradashi operates the social good market “Kuradashi,” which buys discarded food items and sells them to online users. Our service helps reduce food loss as well as provides our customers with a bargain shopping experience. We handle products that cannot be shipped even before their best-before date or are discarded for various reasons, such as packaging damage or label defects during transport.
I heard that Japan is one of the largest food-loss countries in the world, despite our “mottainai” spirit. Can you elaborate on this?: Japan ranks first in Asia and sixth in the world in terms of the amount of food loss per capita. Worldwide, 40% of food produced goes to waste, while 800 million people suffer from starvation.
How many products has Kuradashi handled, how many members do you currently have, and how much food loss have you reduced?: Since our launch in 2015, we have reduced more than 17,000 tons of food loss by providing more than 30,000 products. The membership, which totaled 490,000 as of September 30, 2023, has increased dramatically over the last three to four years, driven by growing awareness of food loss.
Your website shows the amount of CO₂ reduction and economic impact. How do you calculate them?: We calculate the economic impact based on the quantity of products we have sold. For the reduction of CO₂ emissions, we use the basic unit the Ministry of the Environment set based on the demonstration experiment of the economic effect generated by the reduction of food loss.
Your website also shows the total amount allocated for supporting social contribution activities. What exactly are you doing in this area?: We allocate a portion of our sales proceeds to social contribution activities. We engage in such activities in two different ways. One is to donate to organizations for animal welfare, environmental conservation, etc. The other is through our own fund. For instance, we send urban students as interns to rural areas and help farmers harvest their crops with the aim of promoting regional development.
Mr. Kawamura, you came from a trading company and joined Kuradashi in 2019. What prompted you to change jobs? What was the atmosphere like in the company when you first joined?: I met President Sekito while I was stationed in China as a trading company employee. He had been stationed in China for more than 10 years before we met. During that time, witnessing mass production and disposal, he realized it would become a significant social issue. When I met Mr. Sekito again after a long time, about five years later, I heard about his business model of promoting social contribution activities through reducing food loss. This made me decide to work with him. At the time, we were in the process of aiming for an IPO, as the larger our company, the more our business would benefit the world.
What does it mean for KURADASHI to “continue to be a social good company?”: It is about pursuing social, environmental, and economic benefits through the power of business. Among other things, we are first trying to reduce food loss, which has become a major social issue in Japan. Pursuing public benefits and economic efficiency often involves making a trade-off. However, users are now able to enjoy the experience of economic savings while also pursuing the public benefit of food loss reduction.