MOTIVATION｜Confronting the self that ran away and finding a guide for life

"I want to run away, I don't want to do this anymore." After about four months in the field, Mr. Koizumi couldn't stand the gap between his goals, which were swelling every time he was featured in the media, and the reality of his daily routine of steady farming work, and to his surprise, he threw the training program away halfway through. For six months, he was so depressed that he didn't even talk to people. Consumed by regret, he spent his days repeatedly asking himself questions about his future life. What saved Mr. Koizumi was a number of philosophy books. In particular, he was impressed by the message of Kanzo Uchimura's book, "We must pass on our way of life to the next generation," and he felt that this was the answer to his life.
Mr. Koizumi was reborn with conviction, and in order to overcome the trauma of abandoning his training, he took on the challenge of training again as a pesticide-free rice farmer. Making use of his past reflections, he spent his days desperately thinking of challenges and solutions unique to pesticide-free rice farming. One of the problems he found was that it took twice as much labor and cost twice as much to produce rice as usual. After many discussions with the farmers on how to overcome the current situation, he came up with a direction to increase the value of the rice itself to make it worth the cost. It was at this point that I realized that fermentation, which I had always wondered about in my university lectures, might be the key. He was immediately given some pesticide-free rice and decided to make it even more valuable through fermentation. He started making amazake as a trial, and that was the beginning of AGCL. Mr. Koizumi put his enthusiasm into a business contest, which he won, and with the prize money, he quickly started his own company AGCL.

ツナガリ｜母の幸せが子どもの幸せにつながっていく。世代をこえるアグクルらしさ

アグクルはお母さんたちを主なターゲットとして商品を展開している。これは小泉さんが生まれ変わるときに支えとなった「次世代の子どもたちに自分の生き様を届ける」という信念から生まれた方針だ。ここであえて子どもたちに直接アプローチしないのが、アグクルというブランドらしさだ。「お母さんの幸せな家庭が子どもの幸せをつくる」とは、小泉さんが取材でぽろりとこぼした言葉。健康的でおいしい、食卓に嬉しい商品を届けることが、母の幸せ、ひいては子どもの幸せにつながり、その暮らしは次の世代の子につながっていく。世代をこえた未来を描くその思いはお母さん同士、そして子に伝播し、大きな輪となってブランドに巻き込まれていく。

ECOSYSTEM｜A mother's happiness leads to the happiness of her children. AGCL-ness that transcends generations

AGCL's products are mainly targeted at mothers. This policy was born out of Ms. Koizumi's belief in "delivering her way of life to the children of the next generation," which supported her in her rebirth. It is typical of the AGCL brand that it dares not approach children directly. A happy home for the mother creates happiness for the child," Koizumi said in an interview. Delivering healthy, delicious, and delightful products to the dinner table leads to the happiness of mothers, which in turn leads to the happiness of their children, which in turn leads to the next generation of children. This desire to envision a future that transcends generations spreads to other mothers and their children, and they become involved in the brand as a big circle.

コツ｜当たり前のことをしっかりと。

ビジョンを明確にして、チームで共有する。とても月並みな話だが、それが実現への近道なのだと、アグクルの活動を追っているとよくわかる。アグクルの「健康によい商品や活動を次世代につなげていきたい」というビジョンをチームが共有することで、発信や商品開発の方針が立てやすくなる。発酵をより身近に、手軽に。朝食をヘルシーにしてくれる糀でつくったグラノーラの開発や、親子のための糀ソースを軸とした料理教室、ブログでの糀ソース料理のレシピ紹介、さらに、LINEアカウントでの新商品キャンペーンなど、ユーザーの暮らしになじむ施策を次々におこなっている。ちなみに料理教室は、子ども達の笑顔にふれることができる、小泉さんのモチベーションにつながる場になっているそうだ。

TIPS｜Do the obvious things well

Clarify the vision and share it with the team. It may sound like a trite story, but following AGCL's activities, I can see that this is the shortcut to realization. When the team shares AGCL's vision of "passing on healthy products and activities to the next generation," it becomes easier to formulate policies for communication and product development. Making fermentation more accessible and easy. The company has been taking measures one after another to fit into the lives of users, such as developing granola made with Koji that makes breakfast healthier, cooking classes for parents and children based on Koji sauce, introducing recipes for Koji sauce dishes on its blog, and new product campaigns on its LINE account. Incidentally, the cooking class has become a place that motivates Ms. Koizumi, as she can see the smiling faces of children.

コレカラ｜食から飛び出していく「発酵」

2021年春、当時のアグクルでは新しい試みとして、糀ソースxヴィーガン料理として、期間限定のコラボレストランを開いた。ヴィーガンの人たちに発酵料理を身近に感じてもらい、野菜の新たな美味しさに気づいてもらえた手応えがあったそうだ。それだけでなく、糀ソースのまろやかな味わいがヴィーガン料理の持つ脂っこさを弱め、誰にでも食べやすいものになっていた。まさに掛け算によるWin-Winだ。小泉さんの今後の目標は、このように「発酵✕〇〇」として、発酵と馴染みのないものとのコラボをし、新しい価値を生み出し続けることだそうだ。そこから生まれる価値は、まだ見ぬエネルギー資源かもしれないし、もしかすると斬新なエンターテイメントなのかもしれない。私たちの暮らしの中で発酵をより身近に感じる未来が近づいているようだ。

FOR THE FUTURE｜ "Fermentation" taking off from Food

In the spring of 2021, AGCL opened a limited-time collaboration restaurant as Koji Sauce x Vegan Cuisine as a new experiment. It was a great success in making vegans feel familiar with fermented food and discovering the new taste of vegetables. Not only that, but the mild taste of the Koji sauce weakened the fatty taste of vegan food, making it easy for anyone to eat. It was truly a win-win situation. Mr. Koizumi's future goal is to continue to create new value by collaborating with unfamiliar fermented foods, as in this case, "Fermentation x Something". The value to be created could be an as-yet-unseen energy resource, or perhaps an innovative form of entertainment. It seems that we are approaching a future where we will feel more familiar with fermentation in our daily lives.