KeMBY’s has been hit hard by CoVID and associated economic effects over the last two and a half years. If you have enjoyed the great atmosphere and delicious food with us at KeMBY’s, we are reaching out to you for a little help to continue on for another 25 years. Please read on for details.

Established in 1999, KeMBY’s is an international café bar and restaurant located just a few blocks from Peace Memorial Park, in the center of Hiroshima, Japan. It soon became the place to go for a lot of locals, expats, families and tourists thus making it an international landmark in Hiroshima. Tens of thousands of people have passed through our doors. We were happy to have all of them.

In 2010, the business changed hands to the Nepalese immigrant, Prakash Lamichhane. He has worked very hard and done his best to preserve the atmosphere while making newer updates, but it is always the customers who create the atmosphere to a place!

The stage has been removed, allowing KeMBY`S to become Hiroshima City’s first micro brewery and brewpub! Never fear, we still have space for live music. The current KeMBY’S lineup includes 6 types of home brews, our renowned Chicago deep dish pizza, burgers, BBQ,  smoked meats and we have more exciting ideas to come. We are doing our part to give the craft beer scene a boost in Hiroshima.

And in early 2020 CoVID struck. You all know what happened to the world`s situation. It brought nothing but chaos, closures, hardships, all kinds of restrictions and the list goes on. The repercussions are still being felt. And with this war, inflation, and supply logistics issues around the world, it could be a while before things could get better. We have hope, but we believe a bit of planning and seeking solutions are also equally important.

Since the beginning of 2020 it has been tough times for us as well, and we’ve  contemplated closing at times. The government subsidies helped but their one-size-fits-all policy was not quite suitable for Kemby’s, as it is a big shop. We still lost money over that period.

We were able to stay open in huge part thanks to the generosity of our landlord (even though we were closed most of the two years due to the government`s covid policy). We negotiated the rent and got it lowered by 50% for two years but as of April of this year it has gone back to what it was before COVID. With the current market situation it is tough for us to continue paying such a hefty rate.

Here arises the dilemma: completely close at the current location and relocate (March 2023), or find a way to stay at the current location with some help from our friends, customers, and patrons. These are all very tough choices to make and time and capital is a bit of a constraint. 

So with advice from friends, customers, and patrons, we have resorted to crowdfunding. Our goal is to raise as much as 10,000,000 Yen whether we decide to continue at our current location or end up relocating to a new smaller location.

The funds will be allocated for :

• Security Deposits

• Rent

• Staff salaries 

• Moving and Construction

This will help us weather out one year and possibly another. This is being optimistic, we are hoping Japan　eases immigration restrictions, attracting tourists back and boosting the economy. There are also other anti-covid policies still in place locally,  we hope that these will change as well, allowing the locals to go out comfortably.

KeMBY’s used to do  good  business, but we are not a rich enough company to find a large amount of capital in these situations.  However, we do enjoy human capital in the form of goodwill of our friends and customers. We naturally want our friends and customers to feel they have a stake in the restaurant as well. 

This relationship is particularly important for a place like KeMBY’s because of the nature of our clientele. With so many of our customers being Japanese locals, expats and tourists, many of them have moved on from Hiroshima–we hope, with fond memories of their visits to KeMBY’s. A lot of them still remain and are still frequent visitors. 

SO PLEASE HELP US. We will give our 100 % again to come out better in the coming years. 

PLEASE SHARE this link or page to all your friends and family members who have visited Hiroshima and who have passed through KeMBY`S. This will be a great help as well. Together we can do it! 

You can fund us directly by one of the options below or you can donate at the shop in person as well. 

Thank you

KeMBY`s Team

Prakash Lamichhane

PS: If you would like to inquire more or send direct messages regarding helping us please send them to kembys@gmail.com

We are honestly not in the best situation to give back so much at the moment, but nevertheless we do offer a number of benefits to our contributors. Shipping will be free within Japan, but shipping fees overseas will be charged separately (it is possible to decline the option of having your reward shipped to you if you simply want to pledge a higher amount.  Any uncollected rewards will be donated to the Teach for Nepal Foundation .)