SMALL START, BIG DREAMS. Japanese rice balls and tonkatsu sandwiches sold by Go Morita are his simple start as an entrepreneur. CDN PHOTO/APPLE MAE TA-AS
Japanese national Go Morita stands out from the rest of the vendors selling street fare like fish balls, fried chicken, puso (hanging rice), isaw (fried chicken intestines) and tempura along the streets near Cebu IT Park.
Morita, a 28-year-old native of Osaka, Japan, sells onigiri (Japanese rice balls) and tonkatsu (deep-fried meat cutlets) sandwiches to passersby from Monday to Saturday.
Not a few customers wonder why Morita would sell his food on the street.
Go said that while he misses his family in Osaka, he won’t stop until he builds his own food business in Cebu.
Once he earns enough money, Go said he plans to rent space in a mall to sell his food to a wider range of customers.
Go said he finished a masters degree in business administration at the Hosei University Graduate School and traveled to China, Malaysia and Cambodia to find the best spot to set up shop before ending up in Cebu City.
Armed with a green umbrella to fight off rain and heat, Morita carries orange buckets containing his tonkatsus and rice balls to his spot which he called “Go Go Morita.”
Morita sits on a small stool and has a white board listing his specialties of the day. He described his Cebu City customers, mostly call center agents, as “friendly and fluent in English.”
Updates
“I have named it after my last name Go and added Tokyo to it to show customers that it’s genuine Japanese fare,” he told Cebu Daily News in an online chat.
His Facebook page which got 853 likes as of yesterday updates his customers on what time he arrives at his spot and what food will be served for the day.
He sells rice balls for P20 each and tonkatsu sandwiches for P40 each at 10 a.m. until his food runs out.
A customer, 30-year-old Samson Cabrera, said he found it odd at first to see a foreigner selling food on the sidewalk
“His food is delicious. I thought Japanese food was only sold at restaurants,” Cabrera said.
Cebu Daily News bought a chicken tonkatsu sandwich from Go priced at P40. The sandwich isn’t oily and is filled with herbs and coleslaw.
Go also sells onigiri filled with herbs at P20 each, available in different flavors including fish, chicken, pork, egg and shichimi, a Japanese spice mixture containing pepper and six ingredients.
“Sometimes, I meet with customers because they order my food in bulk,” he said.
Go said he wakes up at 1 a.m. to cook the rice balls and tonkatsus in his apartment in A.S. Fortuna Street in Mandaue city.
Food business
“After selling my rice balls and tonkatsus, I buy some ingredients in the supermarket for my products the next day,” he said.
He buys bread, pork, chicken, cabbage, mustard and ingredients for his secret sauce.
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