Kaz Matsune was born with a love for cooking. His passion led him to be a diligent student and a skilled sushi chef at restaurants such as Minako (San Francisco's first organic, Japanese restaurant), Ozumo, and the famed Fort Mason restaurant, Greens.
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Today, Kaz teaches corporate teams and sushi lovers of all stripes his craft with Breakthrough Sushi - the first and only sustainable team building sushi company in the US.
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Over the course of his 18-year professional culinary career, Kaz has served top celebrities and some of the Bay Area's top companies, including Google, Facebook, Oracle, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Verizon Wireless, and Citibank. He has taught over 10,000 sushi lovers and even held lessons at the Culinary Institute of America at Copia.
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Kaz has also appeared in videos for Grammarly and Survey Monkey, as well as ad campaigns for Adobe and Eventbrite. His writing is featured on Quora, The Huffington Post, Slate, Apple News, and he has published three books on sushi. The most recent book, How I Became a Sushi Chef, is a memoir of his culinary journey.
I love learning, creating, and exploring new ways of thinking. Sharing my stories and knowledge with others brings me immense joy, guiding them toward discovering life’s deeper truths. Through my work—whether crafting sushi, writing, or sharing stories—I strive to inspire curiosity, spark ideas, and bring more joy to the world. Like the art of sushi, life is about embracing simplicity, intention, and harmony in every moment.
Kaz Matsune is a founder of Breakthrough Sushi, a speaker, and sushi chef, who leads people to break the myths in life. Through humoristic sushi classes, engaging talks and writing, Kaz loves to bring joy, laughter and learning into the lives of others. His happiness stems from seeing the positive impact of his work on the world.
As the founder of the first and only sustainable team-building sushi company in the United States, Kaz has transformed sushi-making into an unforgettable experience, delighting over 20,000 participants with his expertise since 2012.
Known for his humor and engaging presence, he offers dynamic talks, hands-on classes, and unforgettable events that inspire, delight, and challenge conventional thinking—all while bringing a sense of fun and laughter to every experience.
Beyond the kitchen, he is a celebrated Amazon's Best Selling Author with four books. His works were featured in The Huffington Post, Apple News and Slate. Kaz’s media appearance includes Cutthroat Kitchen on Food Network, ad campaigns for Adobe, Eventbrite, Survey Monkey and Grammarly, which received 30 million views on Youtube. As a speaker, Kaz offered talks at Adobe, Autodesk and UC Berkeley. He served as a board member of San Francisco Professional Food Society.
Whether crafting exquisite sushi, engaging in intellectual discourse, or sharing his story, Kaz continues to inspire and delight those around him.