The Board of Directors at Daiya Foods has announced the appointment of Hajime Fujita to the role of Chief Executive Officer. Fujita, a former Director at Daiya, will lead all global operations throughout North America and the brand's continued international expansion.
Fujita brings with him over 17 years of global experience in business and financial planning throughout the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region. He joins from Daiya's parent company, Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, where he held the role of vice president, Business Planning. Fujita was a key player in Otsuka's acquisition of Daiya in 2017, before joining Daiya himself and serving as director, Financial Planning and Analysis from 2018 to 2021. Following this, he assumed a seat on Daiya's board as part of a vice president role at Otsuka America. Amongst his key achievements at Daiya was playing a lead role in the development of Daiya's manufacturing facility and office building in Burnaby, British Columbia: the largest stand-alone plant-based food facility in North America.
"There is enormous potential in the Daiya brand to push the highly competitive plant-based category to new heights, particularly through product innovation and bold marketing. I'm thrilled to be rejoining Daiya at such a dynamic period in the wider cultural conversation around plant-based eating and I look forward to working with our fantastic team in writing the next chapter of our amazing brand story," Fujita said.
Alongside Fujita's appointment, the Daiya Board of Directors made two further changes to the leadership team. Chief Marketing Officer, Melanie Domer will assume a new role as Chief Commercial Officer, overseeing marketing and sales while John Kelly, VP, Consumer Marketing assumes the role of Chief Marketing Officer.
About Daiya
Daiya Foods has been a pioneer of plant-based, delicious, dairy-free products since 2008. The company's growing line of premium, plant-based foods began with cheese formats including blocks, shreds, slices, sticks, cream cheese style spreads and cheese sauces. Daiya has since expanded with great success into cheese-forward foods like pizza, Mac & Cheese, and frozen cheesecake. Daiya products are available in the dairy and freezer aisles, and products like Mac & Cheese and salad dressings are in the shelf-stable section of most major grocery stores. Delicious plant-based foods from Daiya are broadly available in more than 25,000 grocery stores in the U.S. and Canada, as well as through e-commerce partnerships. Daiya's products can be found internationally in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
