Jon Tanklage is the President of Marukan Vinegar (U.S.A.) Inc., which has been making “The World’s Finest Rice Vinegar” in the United States since 1975. Marukan is a legendary family-owned business from Kobe, Japan that is ten generations and over 370 years old, founded in 1649. Most remarkably, Marukan is owned and operated by the original family of the founder from centuries ago.
Jon started out in the food industry bagging groceries at Hughes Markets while in high school in 1988. Since then, he held various jobs/roles in the industry, taking on new challenges in each. He joined Marukan Vinegar (U.S.A.) in 2007, was appointed General Manager in 2013 and named President in 2014. Since then, he has been leading the company through many new and unforeseen challenges such as sudden growth and COVID.
Jon has been adapting to new management at the corporate office in Japan, giving the opportunity for Jon to learn, grow and further expand his role, as the new Marukan head office leadership have been highly supportive of Jon and his efforts. Jon recently set out on a mission to improve his communication and leadership capacity by getting coaching for himself and other managers to better understand the nuances between Japanese and American business culture. “We are trying to find what works best for us and is consistent with our Strategic Business Framework, which we drafted in 2021”, Jon explains.
Jon is an avid mountain biker (He won the National Championship race, National Series title, and finished the season as the highest ranked amateur cross-country racer in the United States in 2004), and now coaches the Loyola High School Cycling Team in Los Angeles. He also loves snow and water skiing, and traveling with his wife, Kristi. Jon’s COVID project was to revive a familiar 1959 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia that belonged to a friend in high school and was her mom’s first car. Jon recalls, “I can remember her mom driving it to Hughes for groceries and then helping her load them when I was a box boy there. So as things come full circle, I am back to being a bit of a car guy again later in life. Perhaps my time at Marukan has just given me more of an appreciation for cool, old things.”
