Main fundraiser photo

Gaijin Taiyaki Creates a Food Truck

"Leap and the net will appear" has been Gaijin Taiyaki's approach since our beginnings. And summertime, specifically following SuperCon, is our traditional "growth spurt" period. This year is no different.

We are Heather (me!), Cam and Emiko Baird, and we make up Gaijin Taiyaki. For those of you that are unaware, we make taiyaki, which is a Japanese snack cake that is shaped like a fish and filled with sweet red bean paste. As we are a half-Japanese operation, though, we make half-Japanese taiyaki!  They look the same as your bean-filled fish, but instead we changed the batter up a bit and fill them with a wide range of fillings like peanut butter and chocolate or cookies n' creme, to name a few. The three of us (plus friends and family!) have been bringing taiyaki to the masses at comic cons all over South Florida for the past 5-ish years.

 The idea began in October of 2010, when Cam and I took our first trip to San Francisco together. He excitedly took me to May's Cafe in Japantown and there I had my first taiyaki! We had them every day on our short trip, and when we got home, I purchased Cam's first taiyaki grill, the stove top one, and we began to experiment. We would have friends come over and try out different types of batter and fillings. These fun evenings planted the seeds of business in our minds, and for Cam's birthday the following May, I purchased our first "serious" taiyaki grill. A propane powered one that would make three at a time. Our friend Aileen who owns Undergrounds Coffeehaus in Fort Lauderdale invited us to participate in a craft fair she was hosting, and that was that. It took us hours to make 50 taiyaki on our little propane machine, packaged in twist-tie bags with hand-written labels, and the following day, we sold every single one. 

As the years have progressed, we have built our little empire out of its own pockets, taking the next leap forward off the back of the previous project. We have been working comic cons now for five years, Animate! Miami 2013 being our first, and it has been a whirlwind of fun times, delish foods, and most importantly, building a community. While working a con will always be my favorite work ever, it is clear that we have taken it as far as we can. It is time to leap. While we intend to continue working the cons wherever possible, those opportunities are dwindling. With the demise of both Animate! and Paradise City being announced last week, this idea we've had brewing for a year or more now needs to take shape. It is sink or swim for this little fishy!

GT NEEDS A FOOD TRUCK! And not just for taiyaki! We intend to take the spirit of "Japanese Snacks, American Style" forward into creating the delicious Japanese street foods you may or may not be familiar with, and giving them an American twist. Menu offerings will be limited to start, with the selection growing, as we did with the taiyaki. This is a work in progress, after all! To accomplish this, we are reaching out to you, our community, for the first time. But we certainly can't ask for help without offering something totally fun in return :) So, we are throwing a prom!

PromCon 2018 will happen on August 25th at Undergrounds Coffeehaus! We are going back to our roots, because without the Haus, there is no GT. This is going to be a small, but totally fun event! We envision prom themed cosplays, dance covers, music provided by The Shakers, and so much more. Still working on the details, of course! But we want you to be a part of it. And Kickstarter is how you get to do that. Early bird tickets are available for $35 until July 31st. If this goes well, maybe PromCon will be an annual GT event, how fun would that be? By playing along with us, you help get our food truck on the road, hopefully to a road near you!

Fundraising team: Gaijin Taiyaki (2)

Heather Baird
Organizer
Raised $135 from 2 donations
Pompano Beach, FL
Rachel Borchers
Team member

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