A Bento is a Japanese single portion take-out meal, consisting of a variety of small tasty food items. This Bento Box will provide similar small tasty business morsels in all different shapes and sizes — which can be digested quickly and easily.

The Bento Box is the latest Balter brainchild in a series of blog-like brainchildren (The BeeLog, 90days of BzzAgent, 10days of BzzAgent). The idea of the Bento was sparked by Seth’s “Sushi” artworks and Butman’s capability to put big ideas into small packages.

How The Bento Works

• The Bento Box is open for the next 100 business days. Each day another portion of the Box will turn to color which means it’s officially open for viewing. Click through and check it out.
• John Butman and Seth Minkin have been paid by BzzAgent for their time, energy, and creative output.
• All posts are mainly written by John or painted by Seth – with the possibility of a few special guests.
• All posts are approved before they go live to ensure that the transparency guidelines have been met.
• The Bento Box is about balancing corporate transparency with creative freedom. We’re going to do our best to give you the real view of a company in motion with as much transparency as possible.
• Foods should be cooked well and the bento must be stored in a cool, dry location. If sushi is a part of the bento, it should be prepared with more wasabi than normal. Foods covered with sauce should be carefully packed, or avoided altogether, as sauce may spill over on to the other foods. When cooked rice is a part of a bento, it should be cooled by leaving the bento open first. If a bento is closed before it is sufficiently cooled, the steam from the rice will condense inside the bento and make the food soggy.

Transparency Guidelines

Bento boxes should be made in only the cleanest of kitchens, with as little interruption as possible. This Bento Box is being prepared inside of BzzAgent’s Boston office under the following supervision:

• Employees must approve any usage of their names or likenesses
• Clients must approve usage of their names for all information that is not already public
• We will not disclose
  • the personal information of any BzzAgents
  • BzzAgent financial information
  • Confidential employee information
• We are learning as we go. These rules may change as people get more comfortable with how this turns out, with the ultimate goal of limiting as many rules as possible.
• A bento is traditionally made in a 4:3:2:1 ratio: 4 parts of rice, 3 parts of the main dish (either meat or fish), 2 parts of vegetables, and 1 part of a serving of pickled vegetables or a dessert. However, almost anything can be used to make a bento, which is exactly what Butman and Minkin intend to do.

What is a Bento Box?

The term Bento Box is actually a misnomer of sorts. The real terminology is Bento…you can find out more at Wikipedia. Here’s a taste:

Bento is Japanese for a single-portion takeout meal. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. While bento are readily available at convenience stores and bento shops (bento-ya) throughout Japan, it is still considered an essential skill of a Japanese housewife to be able to prepare an appealing boxed lunch.