AUDIENCE

Bento Picnic Followers

One of the driving forces behind this project is the demand from former Bento Picnic clientele for the recipes they’ve been missing since the shop closed in February 2023.

Valenti has served a wide range of clientele through her farmer’s market stand, Bento Picnic brick and mortar location, Saba San’s bottle shop, and catering business. Her followers continue to engage with her culinary pursuits on her blog, newsletter, and in media appearances including a recent episode of Homeworthy which has garnered 91,000 views.

In a recent poll of Bento Picnic’s audience, we received 200 responses from people interested in beta-testing our recipe content. An aggregate of the data indicates Bento Picnic followers are interested in cooking and food, personal development, self-improvement, gleaning valuable insights from experts in various fields, and light-hearted, entertaining content.

Sake Enthusiasts

As Vice President of Sake & Spirits at Vine Connections and the leader of the Komé Collective team, Monica Samuels has worked with hundreds of retailers to distribute and sell premium saké from an ever-growing portfolio.

Bento Picnic will interest both retailers and their clientele as a practical guide to pairing sake with home-cooked meals. Komé Collective will promote Bento Picnic at trade events and consumer-facing festivals and use it as a supplemental tool for wine and spirits courses.

Komé Collective also plans to purchase copies for use in events with partners and make the cookbook available on their direct-to-consumer website drinkpourtal.com.

Health Conscious Homecooks

Bento Picnic is geared towards health-conscious readers who are open to learning from other cultures as a way to expand their repertoire in the kitchen and get back into natural rhythms.

The massive uptick in health-conscious cookbooks in the last decade is obvious in bookstores who now contain entire bookcases labeled "Healthy Cooking," but Bento Picnic will stand out from other healthy cookbooks on the market because it’s not an advertisement for some new fad diet.

The principles of Washoku offer readers a “new” style of eating that’s not actually new; It’s ancient, but most Westerners haven’t heard of it. For anyone who has never heard of Washoku, chances are it will be revolutionary for the issues of modernity including: Reclaiming our palettes from processed foods, Feeling comfortable in our bodies, Mental wellness, Clearing creative blocks, Developing intuition, Dealing with stress, and How to engage in contemplative practices.

Rather than champion a single-minded approach, Bento Picnic offers everyone an evergreen approach for how to make balanced meals no matter their dietary preference, be they high-protein, plant-based, grain-free or dairy-free.

Japanophiles and Aesthetes

Some of the best selling cookbooks on the market today are escaping the kitchen and making their way onto coffee tables thanks to beautiful and intentional storytelling and visual design.

With eye-popping typography, full-color photos and intriguing illustrations, Bento Picnic will animate the concept of Washoku in an interactive manner that has not previously been done. Those who love Japan and appreciate works of art will seek out Bento Picnic as a design specimen to add to their collection and to keep out on their coffee tables.

In Summary, Bento Picnic is designed for the mainstream audiences across the following segments:

• Omnivores & flexitarians

  … who want to expand their repertoire to include more vegetable-forward Asian recipes,

  … and get fresh inspiration for healthy, nutritious fare to make for parties, picnics, and everyday meals.  

• Intuitive eating advocates

  … who want to use the framework of Washoku to reclaim their palette and tap into their own senses to compose balanced meals

• Home cooks with dietary preferences

  … especially those who are Locavores, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and/or Vegan.

• Professional chefs and culinary students

  … who are seeking a reference on Washoku principles and Japanese cuisine.

• Japanophiles & international travelers

  … who collect cookbooks to learn about the culinary traditions of different cultures.