CAFE COMPANY

PHILOSOPHY

Spending time in a cafe is an expression of the modern, urban lifestyle and a way to create a community with those around you. The CAFE in our company name is not just a coffee shop, but for us CAFE = Community Access For Everyone. Each neighborhood is different and the people who live and work there, who pass through for leisure form a particular community. Each of our cafes and restaurants are designed with the particular neighborhood and community in mind.

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OUR PEOPLE

A community is all about people, and for us, that starts with our own people. We started out as a group of friends who loved food & drink and hanging out with each other. The best way to keep that going was to build our own cafe. Over time, like-minded people became our customers, who then became our staff. Our community grew organically, and we attract people who share our values of building community around good food.

We are a collective of chefs, service professionals, interior designers, graphic designers, and real estate experts. We design ourselves all aspects of our cafes & restaurants from the menu design & concept, interior design, and graphic / logo design.

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OUR FOOD

We love great food! Inspired by the finest cuisines from around the world, most of our cafes & restaurants feature an eclectic mix of international foods. We created what is now know in Japan as Cafe Cuisine based around fusion rice bowls, Japanese style pastas, and extravagant desserts.

Not focusing on fine dining, but on more casual - yet high quality - fare, we like to try our hands at a little bit of everything. Beside our regular cafe fare, we also operate Italian restaurants, Spanish bars, Japanese izakayas, ramen shops, green tea houses, Japanese / Korean restaurants, American diners, and are always looking out for new ideas. Our chefs regularly travel Portland, NY, LA, Hong Kong, Copenhagen, Barcelona, San Sebastian, etc. for inspiration.

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OUR COFFEE

Before the specialty coffee boom ever started in the west, Japanese kissaten proprietors were sourcing and roasting their own beans for decades. We've always applied this same Japanese artisanal quality in all of our cafes.

We work directly with coffee producers in Guatemala and Colombia. We only buy beans from growers we know by name and whose farms and production lines we have personally inspected. We also invite the growers to Japan so that they can see how their precious beans are being enjoyed on the other side of the world. In the end, more important that any particular roasting or brewing techniques, it's who you drink you coffee with that matters.

Shujiro KusumotoShujiro Kusumoto

LOVE, PEACE
& COMPANY
message from the CEO

We want to build places that can connect this generation to the next, where we respect those that came before us while trying to make something entirely new.
Together, as a group of friends, as fellow humans, naturally, liberally, we can do this.

I do believe that we can connect, we can start something new through just one cup of coffee.
The predicted collapse of community hasn't occurred.
Remembering the words of our grandparents, we can bring the past along with us.
By interacting with people from Japan or around the world, by deepening our understanding the human experience, we can grasp the flow of this world. This I think is important.

I'm not just trying to spout out some nice sounding words.
I want to live a life surrounded by friends, sharing experiences while nurturing individuality, and always with a feeling of gratitude.

For example, I don't like to use the word "consumer", which in Japanese is made of the two kanjis meaning "to erase" and "to squander".
I prefer "lifestylist", which is a combination of "to live" and "to make use of".
This pairs well with "producer", which is a combination of "to live" and "to give birth".
As lifestylists/consumers, it is our job to make use of in our lives that which is given birth to by the producers.

Through a place called a "cafe", we want to shine a light in the hearts of lifestylists, and we hope to continue to have the opportunity to do this.

Love & Peace!

Shujiro Kusumoto
楠本 修二郎