ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that ITOCHU SDGs STUDIO (Itochu Garden B1F, 2-3-1 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo) opened “ITOCHU SDGs STUDIO RESTAURANT: Hoshi no Kitchen” (hereinafter “Hoshi no Kitchen”), a restaurant where patrons can enjoy delicious, fun, and sustainable food experiences, on July 21 (Fri).

The newly opened Hoshi no Kitchen is based on the concept of family restaurants that accelerate the spread of Western food in Japan and provides sustainable food initiatives as “standard menu items beloved by children and adults alike.” It's a restaurant where patrons can get a casual feel for the SDGs through a culinary experience that is tasty and fun.

Today, with a rising demand for food evolution for the sake of the planet's future and public health, numerous sustainable ingredients and dishes are being created, but many also feel that there's a high threshold. By offering a menu that uses ingredients showcasing diverse forms of food sustainability, including organic farming, local consumption, fair-trade, and animal welfare, ITOCHU seeks to change that kind of stereotype and provide a first step toward broadening sustainable culinary culture for the future.

Culinary experiences for the future have to be “tasty and fun.” It's from this idea that the menu items at Hoshi no Kitchen are developed. We offer culinary experiences for the future, including hamburger steaks and pasta dishes using sustainable ingredients, shakes and parfaits made with “Mottainai bananas” from Dole® that still taste great but were discarded for various reasons, and ice cream in original flavors using only plant-origin ingredients developed by wellbeans, a brand of plant-based foodstuffs.

Hoshi no Kitchen offers not only standard menu items using sustainable ingredients but also encounters with sustainable food that suits each individual, including a “sustainable topping bar” where you can deliciously choose your future by customizing your salad or ice cream with the ingredients of your choice, a gallery where you can purchase diverse products that broaden your culinary world, and an event space with pop-up stores and workshops by food ingredient and foodstuff manufacturers and restaurants.

◆As a cultural platform managed by ITOCHU, which provides opportunities to communicate information about and experience the SDGs from various perspectives and connects people, business, and the planet, it arranges things like exhibition content, KIDS PARK, and Kodomo no Shiten Café.　

◆Establishment of radio booth to raise public awareness about SDGs in radio program named after ITOCHU “J-WAVE SELECTION ITOCHU DEAR LIFE, DEAR FUTURE” （Program presenter: SHELLY）

◆Free provision of exhibition space and filming and photo shoot space for social media etc. to organizations involved in activities related to the SDGs （Around 6 exhibitions a year)

Location: Itochu Garden at ITOCHU Tokyo Head Office
Official website URL: https://www.itochu.co.jp/ja/corporatebranding/#SDGsstudioArea
Official Instagram URL: https://www.instagram.com/itochu_sdgs_studio/