From a 31 Million Yen Deficit, the True Role of Restaurants Emerged. Mimosa Kitchen Integrates its Unique "Zero Waste Model" and "Kids Free Restaurant" to Create a Future that Protects the Earth and Children from a Local Level.
Overcoming a 31 million yen deficit, Mimosa Kitchen combines its unique Zero Waste model with a "Kids Free Restaurant." It aims to solve food loss and child poverty by strengthening its revenue base through 3-store collaboration, a new donut brand, and nationwide e-commerce.
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- 📰 Published: April 1, 2026 at 16:00
Our company supports April Dream, which aims to make April 1st a day to express dreams. This press release is the dream of Mimosa Kitchen LLC. (Hereinafter, Mimosa Kitchen's Dream)
#AprilDream
### ■ [Background] 4.64 Million Tons of Food Loss Annually and Deepening Child Poverty
According to the latest estimates (FY2023) by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of the Environment, 4.64 million tons of food are currently discarded annually in Japan. Even in the agricultural fields of Higashiomi City, Shiga Prefecture, our base, many off-spec vegetables, lovingly grown by farmers, are forced to return to the soil in the fields simply because they are "slightly misshapen."
Meanwhile, according to a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, approximately one in nine children (11.5%) in Japan are in relative poverty, and the painful reality is that about half (44.5%) of households with a single adult (such as single-parent households) are struggling. In Shiga Prefecture, the network of support for children's cafeterias has expanded significantly to 254 locations, but many of them rely on the goodwill of volunteers and face the wall of sustainability due to chronic "lack of operating funds."
Food loss, and children's isolation and poverty. We, Mimosa Kitchen, stand at the intersection of these two issues and declare a dream:
"To generate overwhelming business power to create profit, ensure no ingredients are wasted, and build a sustainable society where everyone can gather around a warm dining table."
### ■ [Setback and Resolve] The True Role of Restaurants Revealed from a 31 Million Yen Deficit
Since our founding, we have valued pesticide-free cultivation at our own farm, "Mimosa Farm," and local production for local consumption. However, our journey has not been solely one of proud successes.
In the past, we made a major mistake in a store expansion plan aimed at business growth. Our naive projections led to monthly sales targets being missed by up to 5 million yen, coupled with an excessive staffing system based solely on budget goals. Due to our own management miscalculations, we recorded a massive deficit of 31 million yen at one point in our fourth fiscal year, threatening the company's survival.
In the midst of this deep setback, we intensely re-examined "what role restaurants should truly play." We then dedicated all our efforts to establishing our unique "Zero Waste Model," which involves seriously confronting the ingredients before us.
### ■ [Unique Solution] The "Zero Waste Model" that Achieves Both Supreme Deliciousness and Environmental Protection
Our definition of Zero Waste is not merely "reducing waste," but five promises to pursue the highest quality and service:
1. **Pursuit of Pesticide-Free**: Adopting safe vegetables grown without any pesticides or chemical fertilizers during the cultivation period.
2. **Complete In-house Production and Full Utilization**: Using ingredients without any waste, including scraps, and not using artificial flavor enhancers. All items, from mayonnaise and dressings, side dishes for bento boxes, to desserts like cakes and tarts, are produced in-house.
3. **Embodiment of Deliciousness**: Taking time and effort to provide deli items and side dishes that deeply impress customers with how truly delicious the vegetables are.
4. **Customer-Centric Service**: Utilizing a customer app to constantly listen to customer feedback and needs, and reflecting them in the best possible service.
5. **Circle of Co-creation**: Asking for cooperation in this philosophy from customers and farmers who deliver to us, and addressing it as a community-wide effort.
As a result of these gritty yet essential efforts to return to our origins, we gained the empathy of over 300,000 customers, and in 2025, we finally achieved profitability for the first time since our founding.
### ■ [Next Challenge] Towards a "Kids Free Restaurant" that Supports the Community's Precious Goodwill with Business Power
However, our challenge does not end here.
We previously conducted a test implementation of a "Children's Cafeteria Project" to support local children. There, we experienced the warm goodwill of local people and the children's bursting smiles. But at the same time, we also faced the reality that many of the precious activities, which have spread to 254 locations in Shiga Prefecture, are built upon the dedicated self-sacrifice of volunteers.
With the regret of temporarily suspending the test implementation in our hearts, we declare our next dream. It is the promotion of a "sustainable, authentic Kids Free Restaurant" that does not rely on community goodwill but powerfully supports that warm circle as a company.
### ■ [Decision] Protect the Community with Earning Power. Expansion of 3-Store Collaboration, New Donut Brand, and Nationwide E-commerce
To continuously protect children and sustain the community's warm feelings, strong "earning power" is essential. To ensure this is not just a charitable endeavor, we have decided on three aggressive business expansions:
Firstly, **strengthening the collaboration of the existing three Mimosa Kitchen stores**. We will thoroughly refine the highest quality cuisine and comfortable service that can only be experienced in Higashiomi, creating a unique local experience.
Secondly, **launching a new donut brand**. Inheriting the Zero Waste philosophy, we will nurture this as a new sweets brand that brings delicious smiles.
Thirdly, **full-scale development of a nationwide e-commerce site with the introduction of an instant rapid freezer**. We will deliver our proud additive-free, pesticide-free deli items and e-gifts to customers nationwide, building an overwhelming revenue base that transcends the market boundaries of local restaurants.
By integrating the profits generated from these three businesses with support from local sponsor companies who empathize with our vision, we will elevate the "Kids Free Restaurant" into a self-sustaining ecosystem.
Warm adult support transforms into children's delicious smiles, those feelings circulate through the community, and food waste returns to the soil to become delicious vegetables again. Mimosa Kitchen will continue to transform "waste" into "gratitude" and revolutionize the future from a local level with overwhelming business power.
"Today is April Fool's Day." However, this dream of Mimosa Kitchen, discovered after overcoming a management crisis, is by no means a lie. It is a tangible reality that has already begun, grittily, in our stores and in the community. Please look forward to the realization of the future Mimosa Kitchen envisions.
### Company Profile
Mimosa Kitchen LLC
Location: Higashiomi City, Shiga Prefecture
Business Activities:
- Operation of its own farm (Mimosa Farm)
- Cafe Restaurant dining business focusing on organic vegetables
- Takeout, catering, and market business
- Sweets business, new donut brand business
- Online shop (EC) business
- Children's cafeteria business
#AprilDream
### ■ [Background] 4.64 Million Tons of Food Loss Annually and Deepening Child Poverty
According to the latest estimates (FY2023) by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of the Environment, 4.64 million tons of food are currently discarded annually in Japan. Even in the agricultural fields of Higashiomi City, Shiga Prefecture, our base, many off-spec vegetables, lovingly grown by farmers, are forced to return to the soil in the fields simply because they are "slightly misshapen."
Meanwhile, according to a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, approximately one in nine children (11.5%) in Japan are in relative poverty, and the painful reality is that about half (44.5%) of households with a single adult (such as single-parent households) are struggling. In Shiga Prefecture, the network of support for children's cafeterias has expanded significantly to 254 locations, but many of them rely on the goodwill of volunteers and face the wall of sustainability due to chronic "lack of operating funds."
Food loss, and children's isolation and poverty. We, Mimosa Kitchen, stand at the intersection of these two issues and declare a dream:
"To generate overwhelming business power to create profit, ensure no ingredients are wasted, and build a sustainable society where everyone can gather around a warm dining table."
### ■ [Setback and Resolve] The True Role of Restaurants Revealed from a 31 Million Yen Deficit
Since our founding, we have valued pesticide-free cultivation at our own farm, "Mimosa Farm," and local production for local consumption. However, our journey has not been solely one of proud successes.
In the past, we made a major mistake in a store expansion plan aimed at business growth. Our naive projections led to monthly sales targets being missed by up to 5 million yen, coupled with an excessive staffing system based solely on budget goals. Due to our own management miscalculations, we recorded a massive deficit of 31 million yen at one point in our fourth fiscal year, threatening the company's survival.
In the midst of this deep setback, we intensely re-examined "what role restaurants should truly play." We then dedicated all our efforts to establishing our unique "Zero Waste Model," which involves seriously confronting the ingredients before us.
### ■ [Unique Solution] The "Zero Waste Model" that Achieves Both Supreme Deliciousness and Environmental Protection
Our definition of Zero Waste is not merely "reducing waste," but five promises to pursue the highest quality and service:
1. **Pursuit of Pesticide-Free**: Adopting safe vegetables grown without any pesticides or chemical fertilizers during the cultivation period.
2. **Complete In-house Production and Full Utilization**: Using ingredients without any waste, including scraps, and not using artificial flavor enhancers. All items, from mayonnaise and dressings, side dishes for bento boxes, to desserts like cakes and tarts, are produced in-house.
3. **Embodiment of Deliciousness**: Taking time and effort to provide deli items and side dishes that deeply impress customers with how truly delicious the vegetables are.
4. **Customer-Centric Service**: Utilizing a customer app to constantly listen to customer feedback and needs, and reflecting them in the best possible service.
5. **Circle of Co-creation**: Asking for cooperation in this philosophy from customers and farmers who deliver to us, and addressing it as a community-wide effort.
As a result of these gritty yet essential efforts to return to our origins, we gained the empathy of over 300,000 customers, and in 2025, we finally achieved profitability for the first time since our founding.
### ■ [Next Challenge] Towards a "Kids Free Restaurant" that Supports the Community's Precious Goodwill with Business Power
However, our challenge does not end here.
We previously conducted a test implementation of a "Children's Cafeteria Project" to support local children. There, we experienced the warm goodwill of local people and the children's bursting smiles. But at the same time, we also faced the reality that many of the precious activities, which have spread to 254 locations in Shiga Prefecture, are built upon the dedicated self-sacrifice of volunteers.
With the regret of temporarily suspending the test implementation in our hearts, we declare our next dream. It is the promotion of a "sustainable, authentic Kids Free Restaurant" that does not rely on community goodwill but powerfully supports that warm circle as a company.
### ■ [Decision] Protect the Community with Earning Power. Expansion of 3-Store Collaboration, New Donut Brand, and Nationwide E-commerce
To continuously protect children and sustain the community's warm feelings, strong "earning power" is essential. To ensure this is not just a charitable endeavor, we have decided on three aggressive business expansions:
Firstly, **strengthening the collaboration of the existing three Mimosa Kitchen stores**. We will thoroughly refine the highest quality cuisine and comfortable service that can only be experienced in Higashiomi, creating a unique local experience.
Secondly, **launching a new donut brand**. Inheriting the Zero Waste philosophy, we will nurture this as a new sweets brand that brings delicious smiles.
Thirdly, **full-scale development of a nationwide e-commerce site with the introduction of an instant rapid freezer**. We will deliver our proud additive-free, pesticide-free deli items and e-gifts to customers nationwide, building an overwhelming revenue base that transcends the market boundaries of local restaurants.
By integrating the profits generated from these three businesses with support from local sponsor companies who empathize with our vision, we will elevate the "Kids Free Restaurant" into a self-sustaining ecosystem.
Warm adult support transforms into children's delicious smiles, those feelings circulate through the community, and food waste returns to the soil to become delicious vegetables again. Mimosa Kitchen will continue to transform "waste" into "gratitude" and revolutionize the future from a local level with overwhelming business power.
"Today is April Fool's Day." However, this dream of Mimosa Kitchen, discovered after overcoming a management crisis, is by no means a lie. It is a tangible reality that has already begun, grittily, in our stores and in the community. Please look forward to the realization of the future Mimosa Kitchen envisions.
### Company Profile
Mimosa Kitchen LLC
Location: Higashiomi City, Shiga Prefecture
Business Activities:
- Operation of its own farm (Mimosa Farm)
- Cafe Restaurant dining business focusing on organic vegetables
- Takeout, catering, and market business
- Sweets business, new donut brand business
- Online shop (EC) business
- Children's cafeteria business
FAQ
What is Mimosa Kitchen's "Zero Waste Model"?
It's a model that balances top quality and environmental protection, based on using pesticide-free vegetables, complete in-house production and full utilization of ingredients, pursuing deliciousness, leveraging a customer app, and co-creation with the community.
How will the "Kids Free Restaurant" be operated?
It will be operated as a self-sustaining ecosystem, integrating profits from strengthening existing 3 stores, a new donut brand, and nationwide e-commerce, along with support from local sponsor companies.
How did the company overcome its management crisis?
After experiencing a 31 million yen deficit, they re-examined "the true role of restaurants," dedicated efforts to establishing the Zero Waste model, gained empathy from over 300,000 customers, and achieved profitability.