About Us
UNFILTER works as a local consultant with a select core of top-tier partners including global leaders, established family-owned companies, and scaleups that are committed to growing their business in Japan over the long term.
Working together with partners who share our ambitious and strategic approach to market entry and business expansion, we are able to achieve long-term goals by crafting and executing tailor-made strategies and building channels for successful distribution. UNFILTER provides actionable insights, straightforward consultancy, and hands-on execution that combines our industry experience with an intense drive for success.
Japan’s unique distribution structure, business manners and consumer habits can often lead to misconceptions, which we interpret as “filters”. Our down-to-earth, “unfiltered” consultancy, combined with our cultural competency, enables us to transform these market specificities into positive drivers of growth.
Our Team
Vincent Nicol
President
Leveraging 15 years of immersion in Japan’s Food & Beverage industry, Vincent established K.K. UNFILTER to offer beverage players a strategic and “unfiltered” consultancy on market entry and business expansion. His multi-faceted expertise lies in areas including expansion strategy and route-to-market transformation.
Vincent maintains a strong network that includes large, specialized importers, based in Japan, along with successful international leaders in the sphere of wine and spirits. He brings particular savvy to his work based upon his experience of founding and growing two businesses: UNFILTER and GourmetPro, the foremost F&B consultants’ platform in Japan.
His combined rich experiences have afforded him unique insights into Japan’s existing distribution structure, value chain and commercial tactics. UNFILTER’s approach is grounded in Vincent’s enthusiasm for cultivating businesses, brands and people, tackling real market challenges, and engaging directly with key stakeholders and distributors.
Vincent is also fluent in the language, having obtained Japanese-Language Proficiency Test N1. He is also a certified sake sommelier, and loves to enjoy a glass with F&B players during their visits to Japan.
Ayumi Miyo
Marketing Manager
Ayumi is a marketing specialist tasked with recommending and driving our client’s core marketing plans. She plays a pivotal role liaising between the global marketing teams and local partners, and also coordinates trade and social/digital marketing activities, develops clear-cut brand materials, creates successful promotion tactics, and crafts compelling trade stories. Ayumi is additionally tasked with growing and leading a team of talented marketing specialists (design, copywriting, social and PR), and is deeply committed to understanding and promoting the brands and businesses of our partners.
Ayumi has spent time in Canada, France, and Scotland, and is fluent in Japanese, English, and French. She also has 15 years’ experience in the media industry, and as a professional photographer.
Yuki Hiyama
Sales Manager
Yuki is an extremely motivated sales executive who takes pride in driving our partners’ business development. He serves as the frontline market liaison between our partners’ brands and distributors, the trade and the key accounts in West Japan. He excels with new partnership building, wholesale management, and new listing gains in both on-premise and off-premise key accounts. His sales tactics combine customer-facing consultation, agile experimentations, and area-based activation.
With more than 12 years’ sales experience in the tobacco and beverage industries, Yuki’s achievements include visiting 1500+ on-premise key accounts yearly, growing top bar suppliers’ sales to unprecedented levels, and experimenting with new activations that are elevated to best practices.
Nobuhiro Enokida
Sales Manager
Nobuhiro is a disciplined sales executive overseeing the expansion of our client’s business in East Japan. Leveraging his wide distribution network, he serves as a connector between our clients’ brands, the trade and key consumers, and acts as a consultative advisor to support our distribution partners. He demonstrates strong expertise in collecting and leveraging key customer insights to influence the trade, as well as building strong relationships with top management and decision-makers.
Having spent more than 15 years in the field of leading Japanese and international beer companies, Nobuhiro’s past experience includes the management of Family Mart convenience stores, and top supermarket/liquor store chain accounts. He is also a certified beer trainer, and strives to promote initiatives based upon sustainability.
External Partners
Hugo Delforge
Project Leader
Hugo has spent the past ten years in the F&B industry, particularly in the management and development of independent restaurants and coffee/bakery brands across the globe. He has cultivated deep knowledge in the fields of operations, customer experience, R&D, multi-cultural management, and cost optimisation.
Now back in Tokyo, Hugo works as an independent consultant with expertise in the French F&B industry. His main mission is to “break” the cultural differences for each project in order to provide a seamless experience connecting our partners with the final customer while taking into account the intricacies of the Japanese market.
Phil Boehm
Visual Designer
Phil is a visual designer based in Tokyo with more than 20 years’ experience in his field. Phil’s works include UI/UX design for desktop and mobile, graphic design for print and web, art direction, Identity and CX design for a diverse array of clients including leading Japanese companies in the entertainment, beverage and apparel industries.
Passionate for creating innovative record cover designs, Phil is also the co-founder of the music label Toothpaste Records.
Ryo Yamagiwa
Graphic Designer
Brand Identity & Packaging Design
Ryo is an independent art director and graphic designer, mainly focusing on brand identity and packaging design. She started her career as a graphic designer and her works are mainly active in the field of packaging design. Ryo is in charge of major projects for leading Japanese companies and international food and beverage brands. In addition, her diverse work spreads from design-based projects such as corporate identity, graphic design, advertising, illustration and photo direction. She is now pursuing new design expressions and developing strong concepts with fresh insights.
Ryo partners with UNFILTER to develop and localize brands to Japan and overseas markets.