Our Story & Mission Statement

Marupo Asian Culinary Tradition Society ("Marupo ACTS") was founded by a group of University of Michigan alumni who were actively involved in event programming as students, primarily focusing on running an admission-free convention called "Con Ja Nai" hosted by Animania: The Japanese Animation Film Society. 

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Board member and current Marupo ACTS president Bennett Lai founded the CJN Cafe as a subdivision of Con Ja Nai in 2014, incorporating modern Asian pop dance performances and food and beverage service. After he graduated, board member Tina Lin went on to serve as president of Animania, while board member Jessica Trombley became the head of the CJN Cafe. Having recieved tremendous community praise and support, the Cafe spun off as its own legal entity and was rebranded as "Dreams Come Chuu", and since then, they have been invited to various other events across the state of Michigan (including in Detroit, Lansing, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids) as well as in Ohio. 

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In parallel, Bennett began his personal venture into the food industry, starting a Hong Kong-style pop-up food stall under the alias "Marupo's Egg Tarts" (later renamed "Marupo EATS") selling delicacies at the Ann Arbor Farmers  Market in 2023 and later Detroit's Eastern Market in 2024.

In late 2024, Bennett, Jessica, and Tina jointly applied and were approved for 501(c)(3) status from the IRS under the legal name "Marupo ACTS", adopted to leverage the "Marupo" brand already known in the local Ann Arbor community. Dreams Come Chuu's operations were folded into Marupo ACTS as well, while its former name was retained as an official DBA registered with LARA. 

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As of March 2025, Bennett has chosen to close Marupo EATS indefinitely due to personal family constraints. Marupo ACTS continues to grow in membership of pro-bono volunteers, and ultimately pulled off their inaugural flagship event, Ann Arbor's first Asian Night Market, on June 13 2025.

Our mission is to empower immigrant and Asian minority-owned businesses to SUPPLY diverse cuisines and traditional arts expression and to educate the Michigan community by spreading awareness of different types of global cuisines and art forms to grow the DEMAND.