I’m Gerald, one of the owners of Okamoto Kitchen. For the past 10 years, our food truck has been our full-time business, serving Japanese comfort food at anime conventions, community events, private caterings, and street stops all over Southern California.

Recently, our truck suffered a major mechanical failure. The transmission and torque converter both need to be replaced, and the repair estimate came out to about $9,600. Because the truck is not just transportation but our entire kitchen, we can’t operate at all until it’s fixed.

Like many small businesses, we run on very tight margins. We’ve always tried to handle repairs and setbacks ourselves, but this one came at a time when we simply don’t have the funds to cover it. Missing even a few weeks of work means lost events, lost catering jobs, and lost income, which makes it even harder to recover.

Okamoto Kitchen has been on the road for a decade, and in that time we’ve met thousands of amazing customers. Many of you know us from anime events, food truck nights, corporate caterings, or from playing our Flavor Engine game at the truck. This business is something we’ve built from the ground up, and we want to keep it going.

We don’t usually ask for help, but this repair is more than we can manage alone.

If you’ve ever enjoyed our food, visited the truck, or just want to support a small independent business, any donation helps more than you know. Even sharing this page makes a difference.

Our goal is to get the truck repaired as soon as possible so we can get back on the road and back to serving everyone.

Thank you so much for your support.

– Gerald & the Okamoto Kitchen team