I don't want to give up on cakes even if I have allergies.

Ms. Shibata was born and raised in Sapporo. Her parents had a field that produced many herbs and vegetables, and they also engaged in beekeeping. She grew up in an environment where "it is natural to make your own food.

My German grandfather ran a farm and made his own ham and sausages. I grew up in a family environment that truly lived up to the "farm to table" concept.

Despite a safe, homemade diet consisting mainly of food from the farm and garden, Mr. Shibata has suffered from severe atopic dermatitis and allergies since childhood. Because of her dietary restrictions, she also had a hard time with school lunches. Of course, even after entering college and the workforce, it was difficult to choose a restaurant when going out to eat with friends.

Even if I went into a restaurant with a light heart and thought, "Let's have a cup of tea," I couldn't have a snack. I have always felt a certain kind of difficulty in living.

When he was a student, he worked part-time at a cake shop, which triggered his allergy to wheat. Even so, Mr. Shibata felt strongly that he did not want to give up eating his favorite cakes.

Since high school, she had been making sweets without eggs and using soy milk instead of cow's milk, but there were no vegan or gluten-free recipes at the time, and she was completely self-taught. After entering the Tokyo University of Science and majoring in particle physics, I used my science-based knowledge to change allergens into substitutes, such as "I think I can substitute plant materials for the animal products in this binding," or "The gluten in wheat works in this way, so why not replace it with another ingredient? We started creating recipes through a process of trial and error.

Through his diverse experiences, he broadened his horizons and started his dream of opening his own business.

After graduating from university, she stayed in Tokyo and worked for an IT-related advertising agency. I thought it would be interesting to work with clients from a variety of industries and learn about the industry from a broad perspective," he said.

I had a longing to run a café or a confectionery shop from that time, but I had no concrete plans yet, and kept my desire to one day return to the rich natural environment of Hokkaido and open a store there.

After working there for several years, he made a U-turn to Sapporo and gained diverse experiences, including traveling abroad for promotions while working in public relations and clerical work at a web design company. After that, he became a freelancer, working in advertising marketing. Around this time, I gradually started preparing as a pastry chef and worked part-time at a restaurant in parallel to my studies.

Then, in 2017, he founded TREASURE IN STOMACH, Inc. "One table for everyone!" as its vision, and decides to aim for the realization of a wonderful dining table where everyone can enjoy the table together, regardless of their religion, way of thinking, or health condition.

Japanese gateau" with homemade chewy and delicious gyuhi

After the establishment of the company, I spent two years preparing to open the store. I didn't know many people in Hokkaido, so I wrote IT and web marketing proposals for the government, worked with an advertising agency to bid on them, and managed them together.

In the second year, when my work was getting on track, I finally announced that I was quitting my job to start my own confectionery shop. He opened "Arisa's Hokkaido Sweets Shop chat", a store specializing in vegan and gluten-free sweets, as he had longed for.

People in the business were surprised by the sudden report, but she said, "Thanks to the relationships I have built with people over the past two years, they have all become chat customers. We were very grateful for the many media interviews we received when we first opened," he says.

Creating recipes is a process of repeated trial and error.

Now, in addition to operating the store five days a week, she also holds vegan and gluten-free baking classes at the same time. In addition to this, he also handles marketing, recipe development, and product development on his own, so the first four years of business were quite hectic, but now he operates with the help of several staff members.

When Mr. Shibata first gave a recipe to the patissier who is in charge of making the main confectionery, his reaction was, "It's surprisingly easy. Many of the students in her pastry classes have followed her recipes and found that the difficult image of vegan and gluten-free sweets has been overturned.

In my classes, I try to make recipes that are easy to make, even if there is an error of 3 to 5 grams," says Shibata. They are fun and easy to make, but they look beautiful and taste delicious, as if they were made by a professional. It's fun and exciting, and it lowers the bar for vegan and gluten-free baking.

The reason why the baked goods turn out so well, even if there are some errors, is because the recipes are so precisely planned. Using a computer to calculate, he creates about five different recipes with different moisture and fat ratios, makes prototypes, and the ones that do well win a tournament, then brushes up on the last one. It is like an experiment.

For example, there is a pink vegetable called beet, which fades when it is baked. Why does it fade? Is it because there is not enough pigment? Then, where does the pigment come from? That's why I become very knowledgeable about each of the ingredients. In the case of beets, the skin in particular contains a lot of pigment, so I have found that by adding so much skin that the pigment remains after baking, the beautiful pink color is maintained even after baking.

Of course, he also has a good knowledge of the wheat, eggs, and dairy products used in ordinary pastries. When replacing them with plant-based ingredients, it is difficult to do so without an understanding of their characteristics.

Making vegan and gluten-free sweets more accessible.

Ms. Shibata's driving force is her desire to make vegan and gluten-free confections borderless with ordinary confections. In Japan, vegan and gluten-free products are still sold at a high price point and are still considered the preserve of the wealthy.

Mr. Shibata wants to change that. "Human life expectancy will probably increase in the future. In such a world, it will not be unusual for people to suddenly develop allergies or be forced to restrict their diet due to high blood pressure or diabetes 10 years from now, even if they are able to eat anything they want now. Yet, I don't think it's right to position vegan and gluten-free as something special for a few people. I want to create an environment where products are sold everywhere, so that people who cannot eat certain foods can also pick them up as a natural option.

In order to give form to this strong desire, in February 2022, the company raised funds from a venture capital (VC) firm, which is rare for a confectionery shop; a VC is an investment firm that invests in companies with high growth potential, such as ventures and startups. Vegan and gluten-free snacks are expensive in terms of raw materials, so the key to lowering costs is to increase the number of manufacturing sites and produce large quantities at a time in an efficient manner. Once this is achieved, more people will be able to get the products in their hands.

Four types of allergy-free cookies that do not contain 28 ingredients

Mr. Shibata is not only revising recipes for mass production without lowering quality, but also making efforts to improve manufacturing efficiency.

Japanese recipe books have a lot of processes, but even if you omit half of them, they still turn out surprisingly well," he says. For example, when making a tart, it says not to touch the dough too much because the butter melts at body temperature, but if you dip your hands in ice water to cool them, you can touch them without any problem. With a little ingenuity, ideas, and perspective like that, efficiency can be increased and even troublesome tasks become easier."

He clarifies what he wants to achieve and steadily solves what is necessary to clear it. Mr. Shibata's challenge continues.

To understand the needs of each individual, he listens anyway.

When a child with allergies asks, "Can I eat all the sweets here?" and "Can I eat all of these snacks?" When she sees a child with allergies choosing which ones to eat with a sparkling face, Ms. Shibata herself feels happy to be serving customers.

Weekend Citron" is vegan, gluten-free, and extremely delicious!

I feel really sad when I go to a restaurant and am turned away because I can't eat wheat and egg whites," he says. Wheat allergies vary in severity, and some people are fine with egg whites as long as they are cooked. It is hard when there is no detailed hearing or compromise. However, it is difficult to provide perfect allergy care, so I understand the risk to the restaurant in the event of an accident. That is why I have decided not to put down the shutters from the beginning and just listen to what everyone has to say."

After listening, Mr. Shibata tries his best to meet the needs of customers by offering alternatives, such as "I can't put cream on it, but I can make pound cakes. In addition to the joy of being able to eat, customers also feel a sense of security in knowing that they are in good hands, which is something that is hard to replace.

As we expand our business, I also want to tell people that there are many delicious foods from Hokkaido that are not well known yet," says Shibata. Hokkaido is famous for its dairy products and wheat, but I hope to spread the word that there are many other delicious foods in Hokkaido, such as rice, beans, and seasonal fruits.

Regardless of physical constitution, age, or ideology, everyone is equally happy with delicious sweets. I am now looking forward to the realization of a peaceful world that excites me just by imagining it.