While scrolling through TikTok, many Americans find themselves drooling over videos of the high-quality foods that Japanese 7-Elevens offer their customers. Spreads including fresh sandwiches, sushi rolls and pastries put the ultra-processed, preservative-filled snacks in American convenience stores to shame.

Now Onigiri Kororin, a Chicago-based small business that sells onigiri — triangle-shaped rice balls filled with fish, tofu or vegetables — is working to “bring a tasty and healthy option” to Americans on the go, in stores and farmers markets, cofounder Yuta Katsuyama said.

Katsuyama said that, while growing up in Japan, onigiri was a staple food within his culture, loved by children, busy students and workers. He said he would eat onigiri nearly everyday until he moved to Chicago seven years ago to study design and business at Illinois Institute of Technology.

“I was surprised that there were a lot of ramen and sushi restaurants, but I couldn’t find onigiri,” Katsuyama said. “When I came here, the only things I found in 7-Eleven were sandwiches or hotdogs.”

Frustrated by the lack of healthy grab-and-go food, Katsuyama centered a school project at the institute in 2020 on making and selling onigiri with only simple ingredients. Working to provide more healthy options for American consumers, Katsuyama said he has strived to bring a “cultural experience” to them as well.

“I’m trying to bring authentic onigiri,” Katsuyama said. “But at the same time,

I’m also flexible in making it a localized flavor for Chicago or people in the U.S.”

Started in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the business began as a shuttle service in which Katsuyama would deliver pre-ordered products to customers in various Chicago neighborhoods.

Gina Czarkowski, events manager at Onigiri Kororin, said she was inspired to work for the company after seeing it in action as a customer.

“I really loved the product, and I loved the aspect of introducing something new to people who maybe had never tried it before,” Czarkowski said.

Czarkowski became an employee in 2021 — the year Katsuyama was forced to adapt his business to what the food scene has become after the pandemic. As restaurants and stores began to reopen, Katsuyama had to pivot his company to a wholesale model in which he sells his products to stores where customers could buy them. Currently, Onigiri Kororin’s products are offered at more than 60 stores around Chicago.

Czarkowksi said while this change cemented the company as a successful business, it also brought a larger degree of “controlled chaos” that she, Katsuyama and other employees have had to navigate together with little outside help.

“A lot of new brands … get a whole bunch of investors and then have a ton of money right off the bat,” Czarkowski said. “And we just haven’t had that.”

Katsuyama said that though his company’s expansion has been exciting, the increase in “things to manage” has made his job more demanding.

“But a growing business forces me to grow as a person as well,” Katsuyama said.

As the company has grown, Katsuyama has aimed to maintain the “direct connection with customers” that he created during the pandemic. This mission motivated him to open Onigiri Kororin stands at various farmers markets around the city in 2021.

Czarkowski said these events give the company an opportunity to provide face-to-face explanations of their products to consumers. Working as a market vendor for Onigri Kororin at The Uptown Farmers Market on May 21, Carlos Maxwell was tasked with describing the concept, ingredients and various flavors of onigiri he was selling to many customers, as most Americans “don’t know what this stuff is,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell also explained how to open the packaging of onigiri, which requires a specific three-step process that most have never performed.

“I have a big belief that … if they (customers) now know how to open this package anywhere in the world because they learned it from us, then they’re going to carry us with them forever,” Czarkowski said.

While the farmers markets mainly serve as a platform to connect with customers, Czarkowski said they also help the company build relationships with other local businesses. Their made-from-scratch products use ingredients like tofu from Phoenix Bean and chili oil from Chilee Oil, both of which are Chicago-based companies that make their products in small batches.

Maxwell enjoys building personal relationships that go beyond business with other vendors at the farmers markets.

“Sometimes we just trade food …,” Maxwell said. “If it’s slow, then we might wander around and hang out and talk to each other.”

Outside of farmers markets, stores and food delivery apps, Onigiri Kororin offers its products on University of Chicago’s and University of Illinois Chicago’s campuses.

“Onigiri is perfect for those busy students,” Katsuyama said. “You can have it with just one hand when walking or studying.”

As onigiri used to save Katsuyama during his “busy school days,” he is hoping to fuel the studies of the thousands of students who live in Chicago by expanding his sales to many other universities in the city — perhaps even DePaul.

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