Sake Showcase and Business Matching Event in Cape Town

JETRO Johannesburg hosted the Sake Showcase and Business Matching event in Cape Town on the 16^th of February 2026. The event was held at the exquisite “beyond”, a restaurant part of the FYN Group. The view of the Buitenverwachting vineyard set a beautiful backdrop for the showcase, which consisted of two sessions.

One session was geared towards lobbying for an ease of bottle size restrictions on sake and the second session was a business matching event between visiting Japanese breweries and the South African hospitality industry. Overall, this showcase was an opportunity for a cultural exchange and to build business relationships over delicious food and an “ochoko” of sake.

The morning session was dedicated to sharing knowledge about sake and appealing to South African government official for the consideration of reducing restriction around sake bottles sizes, which deviate from the South African standard size of 750mls. Japanese sake bottles are measured in 180mls increments, and this results in 720ml sized bottles that miss the South African standard by 30mls. This information was relayed to the guests by a sake expert, Ms. Naoko Ikeda. Also, among the guests were Japanese and South African government officials, including the Japanese Ambassador to South Africa, His Excellency Fumio Shimizu, and the Minister of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. John Steenhuisen.

The afternoon session was based on creating connections between South African businesses in the hospitality industry and the sake breweries that were visiting. A total of 29 Japanese breweries participated in the event with 21 representatives flying in from different prefectures in Japan. They brought different types of premium sake with them ranging from Junmai daiginjo, Junmai, sparkling sake, and nigori. The attendees had a chance to enjoy these types of sake which were served both warm and chilled.

Furthermore, the guests at the Sake Showcase were treated to various delicious small plates prepared by chefs from Ramenhead, FYN Restaurant, beyond, and Sushiya. This was a welcomed treat as having food from all the FYN Group restaurants is not a regular occurrence.

 The Sake Showcase and Business Matching is a testament to the continuously growing demand for Japanese products, including sake. JETRO hopes to continue being the bridge between Japanese companies and South African businesses in the food industry through such occasions and more.

Images: JETRO/Matthew Keil