The signature condiment for Kikkoman made it to the Final Four of the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) “2025 Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin” contest, held August-October through statewide rounds of voting.
Though headquartered in Japan, Kikkoman Foods, Inc., has had a large presence in Wisconsin manufacturing since 1973, when it opened its first North American plant in the town of Walworth, Wisc. The company points out on its website that the Walworth facility “transformed farm fields into what has now become the highest-producing soy sauce facility in the western world.” In June 2024, Kikkoman broke ground for a $560 million new additional Wisconsin production facility – located in the rural community of Jefferson, Wisc. – which will produce soy sauce and related seasonings, including teriyaki sauce.
At the final event for the WMC contest, representatives of the Jefferson plant handed out vanilla ice cream drizzled with soy sauce, which the company promotes for its harmonizing of sweet and savory flavorings. Kikkoman, which formed in 1917 to produce the official soy sauce of Japan’s imperial household, has long encouraged a sense of innovation. “As it began marketing overseas,” the WEDC notes in its profile of the Kikkoman partnership with Wisconsin, “Kikkoman encouraged the use of soy sauce alongside local ingredients – a move that married soy sauce with local cuisines, widening its use and appeal.”
Kikkoman has also supported research at University of Wisconsin campuses. The Kikkoman Foods, Inc. Foundation marked the celebration of 50 years in Wisconsin by donating $5 million in support of sustainable agriculture and freshwater studies. This included $3 million for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural & Life Sciences and $2 million for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Science, with both donations “supporting research that will contribute to protecting the very resources that initially drew the world’s leading soy sauce producer to Wisconsin.”
The “2025 Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin” contest
Now in its 10th year, the WMC Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin contest features a sports tournament-style bracket, with rounds of voting in September and October that WMC dubs “Manufacturing Madness” (a play on the “March Madness” of the annual college basketball tournaments).
Kikkoman’s soy sauce product was among nearly 150 nominated for the 2025 title and garnered enough votes from Wisconsinites to be listed in the Top 16 (click here to see the full bracket) of noteworthy Wisconsin-made products. In what the Green Bay Press Gazette labeled “another upset-laden round of head-to-head votes,” Kikkoman started as a #13 seed, and advanced past the #4 seed John Deere Gator Utility Vehicle, manufactured in Horicon, Wisc. In the Elite Eight round, soy sauce scored another upset, garnering more votes than #8 seed Cruiser Yachts, manufactured in Oconto, Wisc.
The Final Four were all invited to the WMC’s Business Day event, held October 23 at Madison’s Monona Terrace. Soy sauce was the only food product to survive the voting rounds, joined by Wisconsin companies that manufacture extraction tools, custom cushions for wheelchair users, and a rescue airboat.
The #3 seed “Search and Rescue” airboat model by 1000 Island Airboats, manufactured in Marion, took home the 2025 Coolest Thing championship trophy (and the trophy itself is, of course, made in Wisconsin). The rescue airboat is designed for winter conditions and can transition from open water to ice.
“For us, this contest goes beyond crowning a champion each year,” said WMC President and CEO Kurt Bauer, a graduate of UW-Madison. “The Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin contest showcases the strength of our manufacturers – the jobs they create, the investments they make in their communities, the impact they have on our economy, and of course the cool products they manufacture.”
Since the contest’s inception, over a thousand products representing a wide array of industries have been nominated. Winning products have included Harley Davidson’s “Milwaukee Eight Engine,” one of the Manitowoc cranes, and a version of Uncle Mike’s Bake Shoppe kringle.