Kato Sake Works is a craft sake brewery located in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Founded by Shinobu Kato, the business is rooted in traditional sake-making techniques and committed to creating high-quality, locally brewed sake that evokes the spirit of Tokyo in New York City.
Brooklyn Based, Community Focused
Humanizing Finance since 2016
When Kato Sake Works opened its doors in March 2020, the timing couldn’t have been more challenging. Just days later, the COVID-19 pandemic brought New York City to a halt. The taproom never got its proper launch, and the business had to pivot immediately—operating instead as a bottle shop. For a founder with a deep commitment to craft but no formal business training, the pressure to keep up with demand while learning the ropes of financial management was overwhelming.
As demand for Kato’s sake grew organically—through word of mouth, repeat customers, and local recognition—Shinobu began to face new, unfamiliar questions: How do we ramp up production responsibly? How do we plan for expansion while maintaining our values? What’s the right time to invest in equipment, and how do we secure funding without taking on more than we can handle?
Skopos stepped in at a pivotal moment—not only to clean up the books or crunch the numbers, but to offer Kato a trusted advisor who could walk alongside them during a period of growth and transformation. We began by revamping Kato’s financial infrastructure. That meant reworking the Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks to better reflect the actual business model, creating custom tools to track cash flow and pricing, and establishing a system that offered clarity without overwhelming.
Once the foundational financials were sound, we shifted into strategic mode. We helped Shinobu build clear projections that reflected not just current operations but the kind of growth he envisioned. Together, we weighed options for equipment purchases, considered funding strategies, and talked through the trade-offs of scaling without sacrificing craft.
Throughout the process, we translated complex financial insights into language that made sense to a maker. Shinobu didn’t want spreadsheets that looked like they came out of an MBA textbook—he wanted to understand his business on his terms. So we met him there.
With Skopos’ support, Kato Sake Works gained more than just a P&L they could trust. They gained visibility into what was working, where things were tight, and how to prepare for the future. They were able to move forward confidently on a major equipment upgrade, plan for production expansion, and begin preparing for funding opportunities—all without losing sight of the soul of the business.
The transformation wasn’t just operational—it was emotional. Shinobu no longer had to guess what the numbers were telling him or shoulder every decision alone. With financial literacy came agency, and with agency came momentum.
