A Saucy Tale of Success

Worldwide, Kikkoman brand soy sauce reigns over all other brands. To be fair to its competitors, however, Kikkoman had something of a head start. The company’s roots go back nearly four hundred years, to a time when feudal warlords terrorized Japan with their samurai warriors. In 1615, the mother of Kikkoman, Shige Maki, escaped a samurai attack by disguising herself and her young son as peasants. She fled to Edo (today’s Tokyo) and assumed the name “Mogi” to avoid discovery. While there, Shige learned how to make shoya, a salty paste made of fermented soybeans and other grains. She refined the recipe, eventually brewing it as a sauce.

It’s probably safe to assume that Shige never imagined a time when her soy sauce would be a staple seasoning in Western cooking, much less the backbone of a global company with dozens of subsidiaries. Built up by eight Japanese families, and incorporated officially in 1917, Kikkoman has a strong history of savvy promotion and market expansion. The company started exporting soy sauce to the U.S. as early as the 1800s. The product proved particularly popular in California, which had a high number of Asian immigrants. Throughout the nineteenth century, Kikkoman showcased its soy sauce at world fairs and exhibitions. In an era before trademarks, Kikkoman secured brand recognition by affixing each keg with one if its signature, ornate gold labels, specially ordered from Paris.

In the 1950s, Kikkoman began airing television commercials for its soy sauce in the U.S. To appeal to the practical American palate, the company added the phrase “all-purpose seasoning” to bottle labels. Suddenly soy sauce ceased to be an exotic Asian specialty and became an indispensable flavor for foods of all kinds. Kikkoman introduced restaurants that specialized in dishes made with soy sauce, and customized products such as Teriyaki marinade and “lite” soy sauce to meet consumer demands.

Current chairman and CEO Yuzaburo “Ken” Mogi (one of Shige’s descendants) has retained the company’s traditions but has also skillfully managed the major changes necessary to keep pace with the modern business world. The first Japanese to receive an MBA from Columbia University, Mogi focused on establishing valuable international alliances. Under his direction, Kikkoman joined forces with Del Monte Corporation in 1963, giving Kikkoman exclusive rights to produce, package, and sell Del Monte products in Asia and the Pacific. Mogi also opened the first Kikkoman plant in America (which was the first Japanese plant of any kind to operate in the U.S.) in 1972. He chose Walworth, Wisconsin as the plant site for the area’s excellent water quality and hard work ethic of the people living there. The following year, Kikkoman published its Kikkoman Cookbook, featuring full-color recipes with ingredient lists that included their soy and teriyaki sauces.

Today Kikkoman is the U.S.’s best-selling and most widely recognized brand of soy sauce. Considering the meaning behind its name and logo, Kikkoman’s success is no surprise. According to Japanese folklore, a tortoise lives for approximately 10,000 years; the Kikkoman design is based on the shell of a tortoise (“kikko”), and the number 10,000 (“man”).