Founded in January, 2005, Joto Sake LLC is one of the leading artisanal sake importing companies in the U.S. The company was founded by its President, Henry Sidel, who embarked upon two separate paths, which ultimately led him to start the company. In the summer of 1986, before Henry went to college, he had his first job in the food and beverage industry, working as a prep cook in New York City. That Fall, when he entered Carleton College, he started studying Japanese. In 1987, he went to Japan, to study Japanese intensively and do a homestay program.  He studied Japanese for all four years of college and worked at Kinokuniya Bookstore in New York during his summer breaks. During winter breaks, he worked as a cook for Cleaver and Co, the catering company that is now located in Chelsea Market.

Upon graduating from college in 1990, Henry entered the restaurant business as a cook. He worked his way up the ranks, mainly at the Fog City Diner in San Francisco, but ultimately decided the life of a cook was not for him. He headed back to New York and went into journalism for a few years.

In 1993, he learned about a rapidly growing ice cream company, Ciao Bella Gelato. Henry jumped at the opportunity to go back into the business, hoping the supplier side would be the perfect fit.  It was. Initially working as the “utility infielder” (prep cook, asst ice cream maker, office manager, delivery driver), he quickly showed some skill talking to chefs at some of New York’s top restaurants. The owners of Ciao Bella kicked him out on the streets with a sample bag and a price list and Henry grew Ciao Bella’s sales from $350,000 in 1993 to $1.5 million in 1995. In the Fall of 1995,  the owners sent Henry to San Francisco to start Ciao Bella’s West Coast operations as the General Manager and partner. There he learned the entire business top to bottom. After growing Ciao Bella West to the leading ice cream purveyor to the restaurant trade in San Francisco, Henry headed back to New York. He landed a job as a bartender at the landmark Great Jones Café, but soon went back to the supplier side, joining the Brooklyn Brewery as Sales Manager for the Upper West Side of Manhattan. At that time, early 1999, the Brooklyn Brewery was the largest distributor of specialty beer in the U.S., selling world class beers such as Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada, Chimay, Duval, Chouffe, Young’s, Fullers, Paulaner and Schneider-Weisse, to name a few. 

In 2000, Henry was recruited to the Brewery Division as Operations Manager and then General Manager. He worked directly for Steve Hindy, one of the founders of the Brewery, and closely with Garrett Oliver, Brooklyn’s award-winning brewmaster.  During his time at Brooklyn, Henry also completed the Executive MBA program at NYU-Stern.

In July, 2002, Henry joined Millennium Import LLC, importers of Belvedere and Chopin Vodkas, as Director of International Marketing. On his first day at Millennium, it was announced that the company was being purchased by Louis Vuitton Moet-Hennessy. Henry’s job was to launch Belvedere and Chopin throughout the Moet Hennessy worldwide network.  By the end of 2004, Henry had logged 500,000 frequent flyer miles and launched Belvedere in more than 15 countries. Throughout these years, Henry continued studying Japanese at the Japan Society.  In 2000, Henry’s wife, Beth, took him to a Japanese restaurant he had never been to, Sakagura. Amazed by the sake list, sake program and the beauty of sake, he was smitten.  He started going to Sakagura more regularly, buying sake, reading every book he could find, subscribing to John Gauntner’s monthly newsletters and attending tastings. As his interest grew and more articles were published about the growth of sake, Henry began formulating his business plan. Inspired by the entrepreneurs he had worked for, he started thinking about starting his own company.

In December, 2004, Henry left Millennium and Moet-Hennessy and started Joto Sake LLC. He first met the owners of Yuki No Bosha, Kasumi Tsuru and Shichi Hon Yari in December, 2004. He incorporated in January, 2005 and the rest is, well, history.

Today, Joto Sake LLC imports from seven carefully selected sake breweries in most, but not all, of the major sake producing regions of Japan. The company is frequently approached by new breweries but maintains a very rigorous and disciplined approach to portfolio management. Joto Sake is also fanatical about packaging and educational. Our aim is maintain the authenticity of packaging and branding, while providing valuable information in English.  We hope that this website becomes a go-to resource for everyone interested in sake.

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