Pan Kobo Is Dedicated to Making Shokupan in Portland

Oyatsupan owner and baker Hiroyuki “Hiro” Horie has been quietly developing a new Portland production space called Pan Kobo, dedicated entirely to shokupan, AKA “milk bread,” a beloved bread from Japan. The facility is located in the Central Eastside Industrial District. I had a chance to speak with Hiro the other day about Pan Kobo, among other things, and here is what we talked about.

Pan Kobo: What’s in a Name?

“Pan kobo” translates to “bread workshop” or “art studio” in Japanese. This suits Hiro in his creative, hands-on work that goes into his breadmaking. This kind of dedication reminds me of the creativity and intentionality among artists and craftspersons I have known over the years, starting during my days at CalArts.

And 2026 is Oyatsupan‘s 10-year anniversary, so why not end the decade with a new project?

The Pan Kobo Factory

They started production at the factory on Southeast 2nd Avenue last year, but they actually had found the space back in 2023. It took six months to sign the lease and then it took over a year to start production because first they had to refurbish the space. That included constructing a standalone enclosed workspace for the packaging stage. So all in all, this a relatively recent operation for them.

Their “soft launch” of this wholesale space was June 6, 2025. 

The establishment of a facility focusing solely on shokupan—a kind of pan bread made in a Pullman-style loaf pan—arrives at a time when Americans are getting more and more familiar with this “milk bread.” And I learned that it’s referred to as milk bread because of the milky white color and soft puffy texture, not because milk is a main ingredient (it has just a little skim milk powder in it).

Probably the most visible representation of shokupan in current popular culture is the 7-Eleven egg salad sandwich. I see it highlighted regularly on social media, and for good reason—it is delicious and a pleasure to eat. Locally, the Egg Salad Sando from Tokyo Sando is one of their most popular sandwiches (pictured below on the right), which uses shokupan.

The Draw of Shokupan

So what is it about shokupan that draws Hiro to it? Not only is he making the familiar kind of shokupan—both the version with the flat top and the Yama style, which is baked without a lid so the top rises and develops curves—he is able to play around with stretching the boundaries of what is considered “shokupan.” He can assert his R&D chops in seeing how he can push the envelope on pan breads.

“In general, I like testing. I really like to research and develop the new products,” he said. He also said that if he had to choose between doing bread or pastry, it’s bread all the way.

The Pan Kobo Factory

Hiro was kind enough to bring me into the factory to check it out.

It brought back a lot of memories of my time working in a wholesale factory bakery in Emeryville, California. Especially that big pile of butter.

The Pan Kobo space is a little over 7,000 square feet in size. In there are a number of large machines that help with processing the dough; multiple ovens that hold baking racks with multiple pans of bread; slicing and packaging machines; and other elements of the baking and production process.

Part of that breadmaking process is allowing for longer fermentation times. He mentioned that in Japan you can buy shokupan in what we’d call a “box mix”—it’s certainly easier to prepare, but is in a different world of bread with the length of fermentation Hiro likes to employ.

“So my generation didn’t have those,” he said of the box mixes. “We made a long fermentation—it makes a nice flavor and texture that is smooth.”

At Pan Kobo they are making around 5,000 loaves a week, and this facility will allow them to bring that up to about 15,000/week, eventually. Hiro will continue to be discerning in the partnerships he chooses, and those will always start with conversation and connection.

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When I met Hiro at the Pan Kobo facility last week, we sat down in the conference room there. He ground some Roseline coffee beans, made me a pourover, and we started to chat about his background.

Hiro Horie

As I’ve mentioned, Hiro owns and operates Oyatsupan in Beaverton, which is one of the only local Japanese bakeries. Among other things, he comes to the world of baking with a food science degree from a college in Japan.

In the early 1990s he came to the U.S. and attended the American Institute of Baking. “They call it AIB,” he said. “It’s in Manhattan, Kansas. They call Manhattan, Kansas, ‘The Little Apple.'” Manhattan is in the middle of Kansas, only about 150 miles east of the geographic center of the contiguous United States: Lebanon, KS. So it really is pretty much in the middle of the country, too.

He worked in a retail bakery right after he returned home from the U.S. “I was working in retail at a scratch bakery in one of the grocery stores in Japan,” he explained. “That was really a hard time.”

He continued, “We’d start and then you’d only get like a 20-minute break a day, working 12, 13 hours. So you put the baguette in the oven and then you have to run to the cafeteria to get lunch. So it only takes 30 minutes bake, but by the time you’re done, there’s only 20 minutes left, then I have to go there and come back—that kind of baking life.”

Pasco

He worked at a company called Pasco Shikishima Baking Company for around 25 years. Some of that time was spent in production, some in R&D. I learned that it’s the second largest baking company in Japan. I said, “Oh, Pasco, like the city!” He replied, “Yes, after they made that name, the headquarters went to see Pasco and then they became friends with the mayor.”

He spent five years working at a Pasco baking plant in Los Angeles (Torrance) as a production manager. He said it was kind of a small facility. “I was thinking about starting my own bakery in LA,” he said. “But then I thought it was a little too early.” He wanted more experience, so after about five years he went back to Japan.

In Japan he did more R&D with Pasco, spent more time engrossed in the science of baking, and did a lot of research. He gained expertise in replicating bread recipes, too.

Portland

Eventually Hiro arrived in Portland in 2011, “There was actually a frozen Pasco dough plant here on Marine Drive. Right now it’s Ajinomoto, and then there’s the Portland French Bakery next door. They are a frozen food company—like dumplings, you know. It’s a huge company.”

I told him that I know about them as the makers of MSG. “Oh yes!” he exclaimed. “But they make all sorts of frozen items.”

At the Pasco plant where he worked they made and shipped frozen dough to Japan. “And I was in charge of that plant,” said Hiro. “But after three years, usually you have to rotate, so I’d have to go back to Japan.” He decided to remain in the U.S.

He said that it was a tough decision to leave Pasco, as it had been such a big part of his life for many years. He did end up doing some advisory work for them while he was preparing to open Oyatsupan.  

Oyatsupan

Hiro opened Oyatsupan in Beaverton in May 2016 and did his baking there on site to start. And they did everything there—make the curry fillings, the custards, and of course the bread and rolls. He said it was hard to find exactly what he wanted here for his products, so he had to make them himself.

Mug Interruption

As we were chatting and drinking coffee and I noticed the design on the mug. It has a loaf of shokupan, but also their round Oyatsupan logo. I asked about it: “What is the story behind the round part?”

They logo is a circle with the O representing “Oyatsupan”; the B on the right side represents “Bakery.” He did not want the logo to look like a typical bakery logo, but a simple kind of thing that would distinguish them from their peers, many of which use imagery that evokes grains.

Favorite Oyatsupan Products

I asked him what his favorite product is to make, and he replied “We call it melon pan,” he said. “It’s very simple—I like really simple ones.” He says with the simple products you have to have really good ingredients.

He continued, “My recipe is all subtraction. The less ingredients you need, the more important it is that you have really good ingredients. And you have to start with more time to get more chemical reactions going. So that’s that part I really enjoy.”

Melon Pan

Then I asked him if he were to go into a Japanese bakery, what is the first thing he knows he wants to get each time. “I usually check the melon pan first.” Fun fact: melon pan does not taste like melons. But its history in the realm of sweet rolls is important to Hiro.

Along with melon pan, the an pan—a bun filled with sweet bean paste—and shokupan are the superstars.

“The melon pan really has a history,” Hiro explained. “Originally they tried to make it look like a melon.” Not a slice of melon, but the entire round fruit. The criss-cross hatching on the surface of the pastry, which is a milk bread bun with a crisp cookie and sometimes filled with cream, evokes the melon imagery.

At Oyatsupan they use a type of sablé cookie dough in the bun. “Also, it’s a long fermentation dough, so it has a nice size softness and aroma to it,” said Hiro. 

He also mentioned that kare donut—a donut filled with curry and fried—is also very popular at Oyatsupan.

Retail at Pan Kobo?

Right now what they are doing is completely wholesale with no customer-facing element. I think he’d like to implement a retail space, but it would take time to plan and right now they are working to establish the factory. “I just need to get the plant fully functional first.”

And what format would a retail space even take? A walk-up window? A small retail space with packaged goods? Something else? It’s uncertain, but if it comes to fruition, we’ll let you know here.

Many thanks to Hiro for spending time talking about Pan Kobo, shokupan, Oyatsupan and their melon pan, and his background as a baker. It was very interesting and enjoyable. And I look forward to eating more shokupan!

Oyatsupan Pan Kobo [started production June 5, 2025]
333 SE 2nd Avenue, Portland
Oyatsupan website | Instagram | Facebook

Updated February 26, 2026.