Akira Kobayashi

Ichitaro Kanie, Kagome's founder, first succeeded in cultivating tomatoes in his garden in Japan in 1899. His success led to the formation of Kagome Co., Ltd. now one of the largest producers of tomato products in Japan. In 1988, Kagome Japan established Kagome Inc. (Kagome) in Los Banos, California. The state-of-the-art production facility was completed in 1990, and we began shipping sauces to restaurant chains across the nation. Today, Kagome is known as one of the premier customized sauce developers and manufacturers for foodservice, servicing customers domestically and as far away as Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Australia. To meet growing demand, Kagome has increased capacity at the Los Banos facility and in 2007 acquired Kagome Foods. This acquisition has optimized distribution in the eastern portion of the U.S, and provided new product and packaging types to our Kagome portfolio. As international foodservice markets emerge, Kagome has followed strategies to best service those markets. Inner Mongolia Kagome Foods Inc., was established in 2005, in the most desirable tomato growing region in China. Then shortly thereafter, in the European Union, Kagome became a major shareholder in an organization formed by the merger of two major Portuguese tomato processing companies, Italagro and F.I.T. With Kagome Japan's extensive resources across the globe in ingredient sourcing and manufacturing technologies we have successfully extended our international business initiatives, bringing the good taste of Kagome to every corner of the world.