When Yuta Katsuyama moved from Japan to Chicago eight years ago to go to graduate school, the food he missed most was no sushi or ramen.

It was onigiri. With those other foods, there were plenty of good options for that in one of America’s best food towns. Onigiri, however – which is rice wrapped in seaweed, usually with a filling like fish or pickled vegetables – was nowhere to be found. 

This struck Katsuyama as strange. In his home country, he could buy Nigiri at pretty much any convenience store, something I myself have done dozens of times at 7-11s in Tokyo (which are, as many know, much better than US 7-11s). For Katsuyama (and for many in Japan), onigiri is everyday food that you pack into lunches or buy and eat on the go.  

Katsuyama had come to the US to study for an MBA and a master’s in design, and in one class focused on observing customers, he began testing the concept of onigiri with classmates and professors. The response was strong enough that it wasn’t long before the lack of onigiri became a potential business idea.

His first inclination was an onigiri kit containing uncooked rice, fillings, seaweed, and a mold. It didn’t take long to discover the problems with this idea: most Americans don’t know how to cook rice or own rice cookers. 

So Katsuyama and his co-founder Christina changed course. This is where food incubation hub The Hatchery becomes a part of the story. After taking a food business class at the Chicago incubator The Hatchery, they decided to make the onigiri themselves and, in July 2020, they launched what they called the Onigiri Shuttle. Customers ordered online and then met Katsuyama at designated parking lots around Chicago, where he handed over the food from his car.

For a while, it worked really well, and then it didn’t. After COVID times, folks soon went back to eating in restaurants and forgot they ever picked up food out of the back of a car.

Kororin tried Uber Eats, bento boxes, onigiri classes, and even revisited the kit idea. None of them really provided the sustainable business they were looking for, but eventually the breakthrough came with wholesale. Some of the small grocery stores Kororin had used as pickup locations started asking if they could simply stock the product, and before long Katsuyama had a few stores selling meaningful volumes, which meant he could walk into the next retailer with business proof that people were actually buying the stuff.

Along the way, Katsuyama and his partner learned that it was a challenge to explain exactly what onigiri was to American buyers. Cold-calling retailers and telling them about a Japanese rice ball wasn’t getting very far, and then Christina suggested calling it a “sushi sandwich.” It worked, people got it, even if Katsuyama knew that wasn’t technically right.

“I just swallowed my pride,” he said.

For buyers, It gave buyers an immediate frame of reference for something they otherwise didn’t understand. Katsuyama later realized other Japanese food companies had made similar compromises when entering the U.S. market.

Nowadays, Kororin is looking beyond Chicago, which means looking at how to extend shelf life. Fresh onigiri lasts only about three days, making national distribution difficult. Because of this, Katsuyama thinks frozen onigiri is the answer. According to him, freezing actually makes the rice taste better than refrigeration does. 

He also realized that his customers had already moved in that direction before he did. After talking to customers at farmers markets, he found out customers were already buying multiple onigiri and freezing them at home.

“We are thinking of launching a frozen onigiri now, which will solve that problem,” he said.

For Katsuyama, the goal is clear. He wants to grow and show more consumers just want a sushi sandwich – or onigiri – is. .

“I want to make onigiri popular nationwide.”

If you want to listen to my full conversation with Katsuyama, click play below or find out Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.