Nijiiro Shoten serves crepes and drinks in a shop where you can enjoy the atmosphere of Kurashiki’s traditional townhouses.
We spoke with buyer Ayabe Sayuri.
Collaboration with Tsunagu Sabo
How did the collaboration with Tsunagu Sabo come about?
Ayabe (surname only)
This was our first collaboration with another business; Tsunagu Sabo was the first.
Like our shop, Tsunagu Sabo supports employment for people with disabilities. It is a cafe in Osaka.
It was so popular that people came from far away to eat there, so I was curious about it.
By chance, the president of Tsunagu Sabo was also at a welfare event held in Kurashiki, and that connection brought us together. I made a very enthusiastic pitch, and we were given the opportunity to collaborate this time.
Tsunagu Sabo comes up with the menu, and we serve it at Nijiiro Shoten.
The timing is a little different, but you can enjoy the same items in Kurashiki.
People living in neighboring prefectures who regularly visit Tsunagu Sabo came to Nijiiro Shoten because they could enjoy the same menu in Kurashiki.
It would be wonderful if people nearby who used to travel to Osaka started coming to Nijiiro Shoten instead.
No compromises when creating the menu
Do you come up with the menu together?
Ayabe
They provide us with the menu, and they also teach us how to make the items.
They even come all the way from Osaka to Kurashiki to give us lessons.
They adapt the recipes so we can make them at Nijiiro Shoten, but 90% of the ingredients are not items we carry, and the crepe batter is different, too.
We prepared so we could handle it and worked hard to learn.
Tips for picture-perfect photos
We also received various suggestions beyond menu guidance, and used them as the basis for making some changes to the shop.
Tsunagu Sabo puts a lot of effort into Instagram.
They suggested setting aside the seats at the back for taking photos, so customers at Nijiiro Shoten could take picture-perfect shots, too.
It’s a bright seat with natural light streaming in and a view of greenery.
Following their advice to have greenery in the background, we raised the table and replaced the frosted glass with clear glass.
To make sure greenery appears in the camera frame, we also put a pot outside with an evergreen tree that keeps its leaves all year round.
You can take photos at the designated seat, then move elsewhere to eat.
That way, everyone can get lovely photos.
We have the characters Sabou-kun and Tsunagu-chan available for photos, so we hope you’ll take some pictures with them.
Future collaborations
Will you continue collaborating with Tsunagu Sabo?
Ayabe
Yes, we’ll continue offering products with changing menus.
For now, they provide the menu and we make the items, but once we have more capacity, I’d like to offer them original menu items from our side.
We might make sweets with dried fruit processed by the Rainbow Cafe Project.
For the second installment, we plan to make a crepe using white peaches.
The details haven’t been decided yet, but I think it will be available until around the Obon holiday period.
From the Writer
I leisurely enjoyed a crepe served on a plate in a building renovated from an old traditional house.
It was tied with a ribbon, making “Bouquet” the perfect name for it.
In addition to its gorgeous appearance, I took photos at a seat designed to make them look good, and I feel that made the crepe look even more appealing.
It was also a nice touch that the characters could be borrowed for photos.
For me, someone who wants to take home cute photos as well as enjoy the food, it was a welcome service.
The collaboration between Nijiiro Shoten and Tsunagu Sabo has only just begun.
We’re looking forward to seeing what’s on the menu next.
What would you like to know about Kurashiki?
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