About the company Bento&co Co. ltd
株式会社Bento&co — Kyoto, Japan · Since 2008
Japanese bento boxes, chosen in Kyoto,
shipped to 105 countries.
Bento&co began in November 2008 in one room of a small house in Kyoto, with 30,000 yen of stock. Friends wrapped the first parcels by hand on a coffee table.
Today we ship bento boxes, furoshiki and kitchenware — sourced across Japan — to customers in 105 countries, and we have run a shop in central Kyoto since 2012.
On 1 July 2026 the business was spun off from BERTRAND Co. and became its own company, Bento&co Co.. The shop and the online stores carry on exactly as before.
Alongside retail and wholesale, we now offer Shopify consulting built on eighteen years of running our own stores.
By the numbers
What we do
Retail, wholesale, and Shopify consulting grounded in operations
Online stores
Three online stores — French, English and Japanese — shipping worldwide. The International Bento Contest has run every year since 2009, drawing around 200 entries from 28–30 countries.
Kyoto store
Opened in 2012, the first shop in Japan dedicated to bento boxes. Alongside the boxes: bags, chopsticks, kitchen tools and furoshiki, in the depth only a specialist shop carries.
Wholesale & OEM
A dedicated wholesale catalogue for retailers and distributors abroad, plus a presence at trade shows across Europe, the United States and Australia.
Shopify consultingNew
We have run our own stores on Shopify since 2008 — eighteen years of actually selling, actually shipping, actually holding stock. We now advise both merchants and the Shopify agencies that serve them.
Shopify consulting
Most agencies start from design. We start from operations.
Most Shopify agencies start from design and site build. We take on what comes after: fulfilment, inventory, marketing, and day-to-day store operations including Shopify POS — the work that has to run every day once the site is live.
Cross-border shipping and customs, costing international delivery, keeping a physical store and an online catalogue in sync, running wholesale alongside retail. We have done all of it in our own business for eighteen years, not read about it.
We work directly with merchants, and with agencies and Shopify Partners who build beautiful stores but want a second opinion on the operation behind them.
History
- 2008.11Bento&co is founded in a small house in Kyoto, with 30,000 yen of stock and help from friends.
- 2009The first International Bento Contest is held. It has run every year since.
- 2010.02.22株式会社BERTRAND is incorporated.
- 2012.03The flagship boutique opens in downtown Kyoto — Japan's first bento box specialty shop.
- 2026.07.01株式会社Bento&co is established through a company split from 株式会社BERTRAND. Retail and wholesale become independent.
- TodayShopify consulting begins. Eighteen years of e-commerce operations, offered to merchants and partners.
Company details
| Name | 株式会社Bento&coBento&co Co., Ltd. |
| Founded | November 2008 |
| Incorporated | 1 July 2026Established by company split from 株式会社BERTRAND |
| CEO | Thomas Bertrandベルトラン トマ |
| Head office | 117 Yaoya-cho, Rokkaku-dori Fuyacho Higashi-iru, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8072, Japan |
| Capital | 10,000,000 JPY |
| Company no. | 1300-01-082600 |
| Business | Import, export and domestic sale of bento boxes and related products; food and general goods; consulting on cross-border e-commerce, logistics and IT. |
Contact
Wholesale · Shopify · Press
Wholesale accounts, OEM projects, Shopify consulting and media enquiries.
Shop
117 Yaoya-cho, Nakagyo-ku
Kyoto 604-8072, Japan
TEL +81 75-708-2164
