How an MBA internship led Mitsubishi to e-commerce platform Yami—and into the U.S. snacks market

Mitsubishi Shokuhin, Japan’s largest food wholesaler and part of the massive Mitsubishi Corporation, needed a way to break into the U.S. Tourists were falling in love with Japanese products, but couldn’t find a way to buy them once they got home. Yet, for the wholesaler, building market access the normal way—finding individual retailers, securing appointments with buying managers—was proving to be a slow process. 

The answer came from an unlikely place. A Mitsubishi‑sponsored MBA student took an internship at Yami, an up‑and‑coming U.S. e‑commerce platform selling Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian products to Asian Americans and the broader Asian diaspora. 

That assignment laid the groundwork for a strategic partnership that gives Mitsubishi Shokuhin a direct line to millions of American shoppers. Mitsubishi Shokuhin, which generated about 2.1 trillion yen ($14 billion) of revenue in its last fiscal year, is signing a strategic partnership with Yami that will put more of its portfolio of Japanese food and beverage brands on the platform for U.S. consumers.

“It was pretty random,” recalls Alex Zhou, Yami’s founder. “We weren’t actively raising money. We had already broken even, we had positive cash flow.” Yet over a series of meetings, Zhou says, it became clear that the Japanese trading house could offer something other than capital. “Japanese products and brands already represent more than 30% of what we sell. A name like Mitsubishi can really help with our Japanese supply chains,” he says. 

“Yami gives brand owners instant access to consumers directly, and that is........

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