A seven-week branded road show is putting Kewpie Americas in front of Southern California consumers at some of the region's highest-traffic food and entertainment venues, starting October 17. The "I Love KEWPIE" Tour deploys a red food truck across stops that include the OC Japan Fair, Smorgasburg LA, Santa Monica Pier, and ultimately the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Los Angeles at Intuit Dome on December 4 — giving operators and retailers a front-row look at how the brand is converting cultural momentum into direct consumer engagement.
The Tour's Foodservice Play
For hospitality professionals, the tour format is itself a case study in experiential brand-building. At each stop, Kewpie is serving complimentary bites — Egg Salad Sandos and Smash Burger Sliders — made with its signature egg-yolk-only mayonnaise, the product that has driven the brand's rapid penetration into American restaurant kitchens. YouTube culinary personality Sam Zien, known as "Sam the Cooking Guy," is cooking live at select venues including Smorgasburg LA, a move designed to bridge Kewpie's existing digital fanbase with in-person trial. Exclusive tour merchandise rotates stop to stop, and a sweepstakes offers attendees the chance to win a trip to Japan.
The Jingle Ball finale represents the tour's highest-profile hospitality moment: Kewpie will operate the backstage "Red Room" at the Pre-Show Village, serving mayo-inspired dishes to VIP guests while the brand mascot walks the red carpet. That kind of back-of-house placement at a major live event signals how the condiment brand is positioning itself as a credible foodservice partner, not just a retail product. Operators tracking restaurant and foodservice brand activations will recognize the strategy: earned adjacency to premium entertainment drives trial among consumers who might not otherwise engage with the brand in a grocery aisle.
A Century of Cross-Cultural Roots
The tour carries a backstory that gives it unusual depth for a condiment campaign. The Kewpie mascot — a cherub-like figure — was created in 1909 by American illustrator Rose O'Neill for a comic strip in Ladies' Home Journal, later inspiring a line of collectible dolls. Japanese mayonnaise pioneer Toichiro Nakashima adopted the character for the brand he founded in 1919, launching Kewpie Mayonnaise in 1925. That American origin is central to the tour's narrative, framing the SoCal road show as a homecoming rather than a standard promotional push.
"Our mascot was born right here in America, so seeing KEWPIE become a staple means a great deal to us," said Jeremy Stoddard, Assistant General Manager of Marketing at Kewpie Americas. "Sharing that story in person, one bite at a time, feels like the most natural way to say thank you."
For beverage and food brand operators watching condiment category trends, Kewpie's U.S. trajectory is worth tracking. The brand has moved steadily from specialty Asian grocery into mainstream retail, and its growing chef following has accelerated menu appearances across foodservice segments. The "I Love KEWPIE" Tour is a direct investment in deepening that foothold, turning passive brand awareness into active community — a model increasingly common among imported food brands competing for shelf space and menu real estate in the American market.
Full tour details and stop announcements are available at iheartmayo.com.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
