Bachan means grandma and my bachan means business

Hi. My name's Justin Gill, Bachan's founder and CEO. The recipe for Bachan's Japanese Barbecue Sauce has been passed down in my family for generations.

My bachan, Judy Yokoyama, was born in Sebastopol, CA in 1936. She spent her whole life here, except for a two-year displacement in a Japanese internment camp. There, the love and support that she sustained with her family - oftentimes over a shared meal - is what kept them strong and connected.

Bachan later taught our family's authentic Japanese barbecue sauce recipe to me and my parents, and now I get to share it with you as a way to celebrate my family's rich heritage and flavors.

Growing up, she used to cook for me and my family all of the time. She lived on the same property as us, so we would eat a lot of meals with her and my grandfather. Cooking with her made an impact on me because she was educating me on Japanese-American culture through food and passing down our family traditions all at the same time.

I worked with my family's landscape company throughout my childhood. This was where I first experienced how much people loved our sauce. During the holidays we would make a big batch of our sauce and I would go door to door with my dad to hand out bottles to our customers. Our customers were obsessed and I just knew there was something there.