One evening, on a quiet street in Kyojima, Tokyo, Alexandre pushes open the door of a small neighbourhood wine shop.
On the storefront, one word in capital letters: APÉRO.
Inside, the place is simple and assured. A selection of bottles that tells a story, a mood that makes you want to linger. Behind it, the owner: Guillaume.
Guillaume has been in Japan for twelve years. As they talk, Alexandre discovers that Apéro Kyojima is only the visible part of something larger: another shop, a restaurant business, an e-commerce site for French and Australian wines, and a full import operation running behind the scenes. At the time, Guillaume is also preparing the reopening of Apéro Aoyama and the launch of a second restaurant in late 2025.
That evening, we start by talking wine. Then logistics. Then Japan. We meet again. Once, twice, ten times.
Quite quickly, the relationship shifts. Alexandre starts working for Guillaume on several fronts: structuring systems, customer tools, campaigns, documentation, processes. Everything needed to run Apéro and the new restaurants on more than instinct alone.
Guillaume brings the reality of the field and the history of his decisions. Alexandre puts structure on top of it. Over the months, we're no longer just client and vendor. We become co-pilots. Then friends.
In December, when Alexandre marries in Tokyo, it isn't an officiant picked online who leads the ceremony. It's Guillaume.
By then, we've already been through opening nights, build-outs and hard decisions together. Above all, we've reached the same conclusion: something is missing to help others avoid the mistakes we see on repeat.
It's on that foundation (real work, trust, and a friendship built over time) that we decided to launch Dodai Studio.
