Orange County’s got a taste for miso.
Japan’s largest miso maker, Marukome Co., is opening its first U.S. factory in Irvine this December.
Construction is under way for a Marukome USA Inc. factory at an old 3M Co. site at 17132 Pullman St.
The factory is set to span 31,000 square feet of the former 3M building, which is 72,740 square feet in all and faces the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway.
3M put the building, where it made tape for casts, up for sale last year after it moved that business to Poland.
The St. Paul, Minn.-based company listed the building for $8 million through CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.’s Newport Beach office. Marukome bought its portion of the building in September 2006, according to Larry Schuler of CB Richard Ellis.
Terms of the sale weren’t disclosed.
The Nikkei Weekly, a Japanese news publication, reported that Marukome planned to spend $8.5 million buying and remodeling the building.
Marukome has tapped West Wing Corp., a Newport Beach-based construction company, to oversee the factory’s design and construction. West Wing’s known for building several Southern California facilities for Japanese companies.
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Factory rendering: company plans to hire local workers |
The factory is being designed and fitted with machines imported from Japan that are used to produce miso, a fermented soybean paste, according to West Wing president Toshio Nobu Kurematsu.
“We have to make sure that the manufacturing equipment is installed correctly so that it can produce the same quality of miso that’s made in Japan,” Kurematsu said. “But everything needs to follow American guidelines for approval.”
Kurematsu said the plant should be done by early December.
Miso is a traditional Japanese food made by fermenting rice, barley and soybeans with salt and mold and often is used in soups, sauces and marinades.
Marukome’s Irvine factory will make, package and warehouse miso pastes, instant soups, sauces and marinades and other foods. The foods then will be sold to West Coast customers including Japanese restaurants and supermarkets such as Marukai and Mitsuwa Marketplace, both with stores in Costa Mesa.
Marukome is a privately held, family-owned business and doesn’t disclose revenue.
It was founded in 1854 and is run by President Tokio Aoki, who oversees the company’s headquarters in Nagano, Japan.
There are roughly 1,300 Japanese companies that make miso, producing more than 520,000 tons of miso annually, according to spokeswoman Miyuki Nagano.
Every year, Marukome produces more than 100,000 tons of miso and has about 20% of the market, Nagano said.
Most of the miso Marukome makes is sold in Japan, Nagano said. The company exports about 6,200 tons of miso to other countries such as South Korea, China and Vietnam, Canada, Europe, Brazil, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia with the help of distributors.
The company works with JFC International Inc., a San Francisco-based distributor of Japanese products, to sell its food in America.
Marukome counts several miso factories in Japan and distribution offices in Los Angeles and New York.
The company decided to open a manufacturing plant in OC to tap into the U.S.’ growing miso consumption, which is fueled by the popularity of Japanese and fusion cuisines and an appetite for healthier foods, especially in the OC.
Marukome also chose OC because it’s easier to communicate with its Nagano headquarters because of the time zone, she said.
The company also wanted to be close to JFC International’s Los Angeles office and the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, Nagano said.
OC has a slew of Asian restaurants, supermarkets and food manufacturers such as ramen noodle company Maruchan Inc. in Irvine, House Foods America Corp. in Garden Grove and tofu maker Pulmuone Wildwood Inc. in Fullerton. That made moving to the county a logical decision, Nagano said.
“Orange County is the place that Japanese companies come when they want to open an American office. It made sense for Marukome to come here,” Nagano said.
Japanese companies started opening American offices during the past few decades with automotive companies such as Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Mazda Motor Corp., Suzuki Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. leading the movement, said David Blake, professor of strategic management at University of California, Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business.
Ricoh Co., Toshiba Corp., Yamaha Corp. and Canon Inc. were just a few of the several Japanese electronics and consumer product companies that have since followed the trend along with food and automakers, he said.
“Orange County is a beachhead, a landing place for these companies,” Blake said. “It’s a comfortable place to test out whether their business model will work in America.”
While OC hosts a healthy handful of Japanese companies, Blake said that the county is starting to see a movement of Chinese, Vietnamese and South Korean companies open offices in the area.
“This is a trend that is going to continue extensively but not just with the Japanese,” Blake said. “Other Asian companies are opening operations here in significant ways and it’s because business is becoming more global.”
OC’s other perks are attracting Asian companies, according to West Wing’s Kurematsu.
“This is an attractive place to live and work,” Kurematsu said. “It’s clean, safe and it has good schools.”
Marukome’s Irvine facility currently employs about 20 workers from Japan, who oversee research and development, marketing and sales, Nagano said.
The company plans to hire local workers once the factory is completed, she said.
Marukome employs about 500 people in Japan.
The ultimate goal for Marukome is to sell its products in large American grocery store chains, Nagano said. The company is also targeting schools and hospitals, she said.
Since miso still is a new product to most Americans, Nagano said the company would begin a strong marketing campaign once its Irvine operations are up and running.
“Like any new product we’ll have some challenges but the miso food trend is here and Marukome wants to be the leader,” Nagano said.
