We interviewed four employees of Tablecross Inc. which provides a restaurant reservation service “byFood.com” in English and Chinese, as well as reservations for dining experiences, with the aim of becoming an all-in-one gourmet platform for foreign visitors to Japan.
Employees Profile：
Elizabeth Johnson：
Product Manager, Head of Product based in Tokyo, over a decade experience in big tech Google, lived and worked in San Francisco, India, Singapore and Japan. Outside of work, can be found teaching contemporary dance, floral design workshops and making pottery. Considers herself a livelong learner with recent courses completed from Maven Product Leadership Bootcamp and continuing language studies - French and Japanese.
Serkan Toso：
Serkan Toso, originally from Turkey, is the co-founder and COO of byFood.com, leading the company’s strategic growth and partnerships. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter and playing badminton.
Nila Oktavianti：
Customer Support Manager, originally from Indonesia. I studied Tourism and Hospitality at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, Kyoto's sister city, and bring 13 years of experience in Japan's tourism industry. Outside of work, I am passionate about sustainable tourism, love discovering new foods during my travels, and enjoy playing guitar.
Sho Kitai：
Director of Solution Sales and Project Management. After working in sales and team management at a mid-sized travel agency, he deepened his knowledge of the travel industry structure, digital marketing, and inbound through his experience working for digital platforms such as Booking.com, online advertising, and SaaS companies. Furthermore, at Meta (Facebook Japan), he contributed to Instagram's growth in Japan as a Client Partner in the travel and consumer goods industry.
Table of Contents:
Could you walk me through your career background ?
I was born in India, and I went to the U.S for my school, and then I built my career in San Francisco and spent most of my adult life milestones in San Francisco.
My first full time job was at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. I was in their consulting group for the Salesforce platform. After two years, I got hired by Google San Francisco. I was in Google for about three years in San Francisco doing the ad tech platform.
I then moved to Google Singapore. I transitioned from solution consulting into a product launch role for hardware, working on devices like Google Home, Chromecast and Nest, for APAC strategic launches in Singapore, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
What brought you to Japan?
My role at Google expanded to focus on smart home and IoT, and scaling smart home products in the Japan market while expanding other key APAC markets. At Google Singapore, I was alone representing my team, so when the right time came my manager approached me with a great role growth and relocation to Tokyo in 2019.
After I left Google, I was attempting to start my own Indian bento service, delivering my home cooked nutritious meals to neighborhood small businesses for their staff. During this time I learnt that it is quite hard to start something in f&b and generally physical goods, and also I started asking myself if I was 'founder type', that's how I stumbled upon Tablecross(byFood) through some research and my LinkedIn connections feeds
Out of all the startup companies in Japan, what was the key factor of you joining this company?
I wanted to join an international company. In all the projects I worked on at Google and one thing that stood out was how international the teams were. I never felt out of place; I was always heard. That element was crucial for me. When I checked LinkedIn and read about Tablecross, with the CEO Kaoru being Japanese and Serkan having Turkish roots, it was particularly inspiring, especially with the presence of a Japanese woman founder.
I was intrigued by the team composition. When I met them, they confirmed that their engineers are based remotely in Turkey, and some new hires are from Rwanda and Algeria. This diversity brings a lot of creative value in solving user problems, and offers different perspectives and expertise from AI applications to cross functional partnership to product excellence, and a team culture of doers who love to solve hard problems.
Knowing both the US workforce culture and Japanese workforce culture. Could you touch on the primary difference between both countries? Please also elaborate on how this company is different from typical Japanese companies.
Speaking from the U.S. perspective first, I was in the startup hub of San Francisco, very fast-paced, ideas popping here and there and people talking about apps this or that all the time. I loved the urgency and competitiveness; at work it pushed us to improve and innovate quickly.
However, I'm originally from India, so I understand the challenges regional markets face, like dealing with banks for instance. I could connect with those pain points outside of San Francisco. Moving to Singapore, which felt more like a melting pot or Asia-lite, was very fast paced, for example I could even get my queue ticket from my mobile phone to visit a bank before I show up to the bank, which was a first time experience for me even though I thought San Francisco was relatively fast and techie. I felt this fast paced environment at work with the team I joined as well.
In Japan, speaking from my experiences alone before joining Tablecross, the work culture was quite different. There's a significant focus on detail and quality. If there are any bugs in a product, there's almost zero tolerance for a buggy launch. This leads to a slower, more meticulous approach, which can be far removed from a startup mindset of trying things out first and improving later.
Please tell us about your organization.
Currently, we have more than 70 members in our company, who come from a variety of diverse backgrounds. Some team members, particularly in software development, work remotely from countries such as Turkey, Algeria, and Rwanda now, among others. Our customer support teams are also internationally diverse, primarily consisting of members from the Philippines and Indonesia.
One of our core values is diversity and innovation, so we do not prioritize where individuals are from or their gender.
Are they all bilingual?
The business development team, which communicates directly with our Japanese clients, consists mostly of Japanese individuals who speak business-level English.
One of our strengths, based on my experience, is that our Japanese clients often face language barriers when dealing with foreign customers. This is why we actively recruit Japanese employees with a global mindset who can speak English.
As for the content and marketing teams, they are composed of foreign employees who have a deep understanding of Japanese culture. With their assistance, we can promote the beauty of Japanese culture from a foreign perspective. Almost everyone on our team loves Japanese culture and cuisine, which motivates them to promote it internationally.
What are the values that you share as an organization?
Encouraging innovation is another key value we uphold. I always tell our employees, “If you have an idea, don’t keep it to yourself—share it!” In the Japanese workforce, especially within large corporations, new ideas often get rejected, and I can speak to this from my personal experience with other Japanese companies.
To encourage creative thinking and idea sharing, we conduct brainstorming sessions regularly. Attendees are welcome to share any thoughts they have, and we evaluate those ideas before making decisions.
Fostering happiness is also one of our core values. We have a project called “Food for Happiness.” As our CEO Kaoru mentioned in a previous interview, for every booking we receive, we donate 10 full lunch meals to children in developing countries. This initiative is one of the main reasons we operate this business.
Through this project, travelers can enjoy food in Japan while indirectly helping children worldwide access meals. So far, we have donated 695,000 meals. Through our project and platform, we aim to create an environment where our customers, partners, and employees can all experience happiness.
Could you please introduce yourself.
I am Nila from the customer support desk. I am originally from Indonesia, but I moved to Japan in 2013, which is now 11 years ago.
What do you like about Japan? and why did you decide to come here?
My mother has lived in Japan for 20 years, and she invited me to come see how I could fit into Japanese culture and society. When I arrived, I instantly fell in love with Japan and decided to stay. I love the culture, the people, and the work ethic. Before I came, I heard many stories about the harsh working conditions in Japan, but based on my experience, those are not true. Working with this company has been really fulfilling for me.
What do you think is the difference between this company and other companies you have previously worked for?
I think the work-life balance here is great compared to most travel agencies, where we are often required to work on weekends or public holidays. While the workload can be heavy and overtime is common, here it is much better balanced.
What does your daily routine look like as a customer support manager?
In the morning, I check for any problems that may have occurred the night before while the night shift members were working. I then discuss with other team members if there are any improvements needed for the day.
After that, I reply to questions from team members, such as how to handle inquiries regarding guest complaints for restaurants. Each day involves figuring out how to solve unique problems as they arise.
Do you have any message to your future guests and travelers that are coming to Japan?
Japan is a very special country. Unlike other places where everything is flexible and can change at the last minute, Japan is known for its exceptional hospitality. Restaurants and hotels strive to provide the best for their customers. For that reason, restaurants need to prepare their ingredients in advance, as they go to the market in the morning to ensure they have the freshest options for the day.
This is why last-minute changes are almost impossible. Our concierge and customer support teams are very careful about ensuring our guests have a great travel experience in Japan. We always try to tailor recommendations for restaurants or experiences based on their specific situations. I recommend that future travelers contact us a couple of months before their departure date; we are confident that we can deliver something special and meaningful for them.
Could you please share your career background with us?
I started my career as a fresh graduate at a travel agency, and then I joined Booking.com during its entry into the Japanese market. After that, I worked at Criteo, which provides advertising solutions for foreign companies.
Later, I assisted a travel-focused SaaS vendor, which was acquired by Recruit Holdings, with their entry into the Japanese market. Before joining Tablecross, I spent six years at Meta (formerly Facebook Japan) as a lead in advertising for the travel industry.
What is your current mission at Tablecross?
I joined Tablecross at the beginning of August 2024 and currently serve as the manager of the project management team. Our sales department is divided into four main teams: the restaurant team, which contracts and follows up with restaurants to be listed on our platform; the experience team, which coordinates with hosts to create additional tours for travelers; the solution sales team, which focuses on acquiring large projects from both public and private sectors; and finally, the project management team, which executes the projects that have been secured. I am in charge of leading the fourth team, the project management team.
We have the opportunity to work with clients such as a major beverage manufacturer and with JTB, one of our investors, on an inbound gastro tourism project.
After your first month at the company, what have you noticed, and what gaps have you observed between your expectations before joining and the reality?
In terms of the gap between my expectations and reality, my recent background has been more aligned with advertising agencies, so while I have a strong passion for advertising, my enthusiasm for travel wasn’t as high. However, I’ve found that this company has specialists focused on enhancing travel products and many team members with diverse career backgrounds, including those who have started businesses abroad. Discussing their experiences is both interesting and exciting.
When I met the initial three board members and continued to engage with other employees, I found a strong cultural fit. I believe Serkan mentioned this as well, but the culture here, despite being a startup, resonates with my past experiences at a foreign corporation where I felt limited. The environment is very welcoming, allowing for a casual dress code. For instance, I came to work today in this outfit, and in a digital company, this flexibility is appreciated. It’s reassuring to work in a place where I can be myself, making me feel I made the right choice in joining.
One surprising aspect is that in large corporations, the scope of responsibility can be quite narrow. In contrast, at a startup like ours, I’ve experienced both the joys and challenges of taking on tasks beyond my job description.
What value and strengths can TableCross provide to both public and private enterprises, and what are your future goals?
By engaging with various public and private entities, we’ve identified their needs and aspirations for inbound travelers. Our strengths, such as the quality of our YouTube video production, enable us to tailor our services to meet these needs effectively.
Additionally, even in areas where our solutions are still being established, we have team members capable of proposing and building tailored solutions to meet client expectations. My project management team currently consists of four members, all of whom are very proactive in engaging with clients, continuously brainstorming solutions, and maintaining a passionate approach.
Although I joined as a manager after the team was formed, I am fortunate to lead such wonderful members. My goal is to leverage my past experiences to strengthen our team further and explore how we can become even more effective.
You can find information about Tablecross here.
For the Japanese gourmet platform "byFood.com," please visit here.
You can register for membership here.
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