Making money out of Japanese meat rice balls

KOJIHIRO Minashima and Daisuke Oda separately came to Cebu from Japan to study English.

They ended up making friends and partnering with a couple of their online teachers to establish a business that takes advantage of the Cebuanos’ appetite for Japanese rice balls.

Together with Cebuano partners Jossel Jess McYorker, Sheba Mandajuyan and Angelica Riñen, the two young men put up Nikumaki Cebu.

Nikumaki, a combination of the words “niku” (meat) and “maki” (wrap or roll), refers to Japanese rice wrapped in thinly sliced meat — in this case, bacon — and seasoned in a special sauce before it is baked.

“Why bacon? It’s because Daisuke loves bacon,” Riñen said.

At their booth in Sugbo Mercado food bazaar in the Cebu IT Park in Barangay Apas, only Minashima was not around at the time of the interview with Cebu Daily News.

Riñen, McYorker, Mandajuyan and Oda attended to their customers themselves. Before midnight, they had sold out all the nikumaki they had prepared.

Riñen said they started with a food delivery service within the cyberpark. As more people learned about Nikumaki, they expanded their delivery services outside the IT Park.

They also joined food bazaars and festivals, such as the Bon Odori Festival at the Family Park in Talamban in August last year, where around 400 nikumaki pieces were sold at P40 each in just about two hours.

If plans pushed through, Nikumaki should have established last week a kiosk at the JY Square Supermarket and another at the J Centre Mall in Mandaue City.

Nikumaki Cebu is a regular at the Sugbo Mercado, which takes place from Thursdays to Saturdays at the Garden Bloc of Cebu IT Park.

Riñen said they are able to sell up to 600 pieces of Nikumaki and Nikumaki Bento a night at the weekend food bazaar. Aside from their original nikumaki, the team has also introduced a cheesy variety and another with spicy sauce. The bento (lunch box), meanwhile, comes with Japanese omelette and potato salad at P135 apiece.