16 Years Of Welcoming Hospitality….

I’m Tokuma Kobayashi, the founder of RED WHITE.

I grew up in Fukushima, a small town on the mountains in the north of Japan. 
When I was 16 I quit high school and I moved alone to Tokyo.
The first five days I spent in Tokyo, I had no money and couldn’t find anything to eat. I struggled greatly with food and I was very hungry. That experience changed the way I thought about food, I felt connected to it.

I worked three jobs at once, working hard and saving everything to follow my dream.
After seven years, at the age of 23, I bet everything I had and I opened my first restaurant in Tokyo.
Another seven years later, I had opened 12 restaurants in Japan.

I decided to sell these restaurants and move to America to make my vision reality: to help drive the shift from animal products to plant- based products in the US food industry. 
I believe that quality plant- based food should serve as one of food standard and that it has the power to make our lives better and more sustainable. I also believe that we can challenge the stereotypes surrounding plant- based diets; they can be sustainable, healthy, and enjoyable to eat. 

I believe that incorporating delicious Japanese cuisine and flavors with vegan methods of cooking can help RED WHITE be a catalyst for this change in America. That is why I moved here and started my mission.