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Comment by bemmu

10 years ago

Almost exactly 5 years ago I posted about a Japanese candy subscription service (https://www.candyjapan.com/), and it is now doing roughly ~$200k in yearly revenue.

Lately I've been toying with the idea of selling the business, as it seems like half a decade is plenty enough to spend on a single project and I'm curious to see what else I might be able to do. But I periodically get into this mood and might soon come to my senses again :-)

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bemmu

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jay-anderson  10 years ago

Happy former customers here. We had to cancel since we live in Phoenix and received melted candy during the summer months (not your fault) and we forgot to sign back up. If we could be subscribed during the rest of the year we would.

biztos  10 years ago

I too remember this, though not from HN... and I remember thinking, "wow, what a glorious and probably doomed project!"

Glad to hear it's doing well.

e12e  10 years ago

Did you get an email from my friend a while back about the possibility of buying real/high quality soy sauce? I'm not so much curious about the actual exchange, just reminding you that there are other (food) things that are hard to get outside of Japan (partly due to the language barrier, and not all traditional crafts shops being particularly Internet savvy) -- that a lot of people would likely be willing to pay a premium for. It would proabably be a quite different business model - maybe enough of a change for you to keep your interest (and us to get our good stuff). I know he did sign up for the candy either way, and was very happy that I pointed him to your service ;-)

Btw, for others interested in good food, and/or Japanese food, the inspiration for this request came from the excellent documentary:

"Shoyu and the Secrets of Japanese Cuisine" / "Shoyu et les secrets de la cuisine Japonaise"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3898014/

http://www.pointdujour-international.com/catalogueFiche.php?...

przeor  10 years ago

Definitely, you should start accepting BitCoin. I have some of $ it in my mobile wallet and probably I would order some ;-D while I've got an impulse to try a japan's candy ;-)

downandout  10 years ago

I cannot believe it's been 5 years. I remember reading about this like it was yesterday. Congratulations on the success!

yitchelle  10 years ago

Man, has it been 5years already! I remember reading it when it was ShowHNed. And the book you wrote about it. Hope you had some success with the book as well.