food
Cookpad, the operator of Japan’s leading recipe sharing website, announced today that downloads of its mobile apps (for iOS and Android) have surpassed 20 million. In addition, the service now boasts 40 million monthly users, of which six percent engage using smartphones. You can see the chart above for a more detailed breakdown of Cookpad user access across devices. Cookpad
Cookpad, the operator of Japan’s leading recipe sharing website, announced today that downloads of its mobile apps (for iOS and Android) have surpassed 20 million.
In addition, the service now boasts 40 million monthly users, of which six percent engage using smartphones. You can see the chart above for a more detailed breakdown of Cookpad user access across devices.
Back in December we told you about delivery service for Japanese deli foods called ‘Office Okan’, which at that time was kicking off in closed beta for corporate customers. After that initial period, the company announced the service’s official release yesterday, serving Tokyo’s Shibuya district in 2014, and gradually expanding beyond that in the future. More details can be found on our Japanese site.
Back in December we told you about delivery service for Japanese deli foods called ‘Office Okan’, which at that time was kicking off in closed beta for corporate customers. After that initial period, the company announced the service’s official release yesterday, serving Tokyo’s Shibuya district in 2014, and gradually expanding beyond that in the future.
More details can be found on our Japanese site.
Japan has a number of restaurant-focused apps and services, including recent CNet Japan Startup Award winner Retty. But another restaurant recommendation app that’s gearing up to challenge in this space is Quchy, produced by Tokyo-based Endymion, a Samurai Incubate startup. The founder is Loren Fykes, who decided to create this service to make it easier for people all over the world to keep track of restaurants they like or ones recommended by friends. Quchy, which has been operating in public beta since October 2013 [1], proposes a social, card-collection approach to restaurant curation and recommendation, where you can save your favorite restaurants or remember places you’d like to go, or you can explore restaurants saved by your friends, sorting by proximity to your current location if you wish. One of Quchy’s more interesting functions is the ability to arrange cards into decks. Assuming that enough users make use of this function, it could potentially give Quchy’s mobile restaurant curation the same sort of appeal as the many articles we typically find online for top five or top ten lists of, for example, sushi restaurants in Tokyo. Currently decks cannot be shared externally in the same way that cards can (i.e….
Japan has a number of restaurant-focused apps and services, including recent CNet Japan Startup Award winner Retty. But another restaurant recommendation app that’s gearing up to challenge in this space is Quchy, produced by Tokyo-based Endymion, a Samurai Incubate startup. The founder is Loren Fykes, who decided to create this service to make it easier for people all over the world to keep track of restaurants they like or ones recommended by friends.
Quchy, which has been operating in public beta since October 2013 [1], proposes a social, card-collection approach to restaurant curation and recommendation, where you can save your favorite restaurants or remember places you’d like to go, or you can explore restaurants saved by your friends, sorting by proximity to your current location if you wish.
One of Quchy’s more interesting functions is the ability to arrange cards into decks. Assuming that enough users make use of this function, it could potentially give Quchy’s mobile restaurant curation the same sort of appeal as the many articles we typically find online for top five or top ten lists of, for example, sushi restaurants in Tokyo. Currently decks cannot be shared externally in the same way that cards can (i.e. via a web link shared to mail, message, or other social services), but I’m told the startup “will likely add this as part of the web app first”.
While I’m not a huge foodie myself, I can see the value in collecting and sharing restaurant information. It’s especially handy for travelers to be able to browse what’s available when they are in a new area. But at the same time, restaurant information available for reference on the web than ever before (think Google Maps, Facebook, Yelp, FourSquare) so I’m not sure Quchy has the same sort of value right now that it would have had a few years ago [2]. In terms of curation and recommendation, it does solve a problem, yes. Is it a big problem? For me, no. But that may differ for people who eat out more than I do [3].
On the restaurant side however, Quchy will later provide the ability to use a dashboard to grow and reward their loyal fan base. I’m told that the dashboard portion of the service will launch on February 1st, and it should be interesting to see how that feature is received. The startup has established a partnership with benefits platform community KUDOS First Benefit to help “will leverage its lifestyle benefit partners and build out premium communities” around the world. In the long term, Quchy aspires to have 3 million users and 10,000 lifestyle partner shops in three years.
Similarly, I think the connoisseur list feature looks very promising. Currently there’s just ‘Mr. Quchy’ on the app, but Quchy has some tie-ups with industry professionals who will become connoiseurs, thanks to its partnership with KUDOS. That initiative could result in some really fun curated collections.
If you’d like to check out the app for yourself, you can download it for free over on the App Store.
It has been in private beta since May of 2013. ↩
And then there’s Gournavi and Tabelog in Japan, or Dianping in China, if you want to look at other languages. ↩
It certainly would come in handy when friends come from out of town. But as international as my own online social circle is pretty international, this situation only arises once or twice a year for me. I do like to pop open Quchy and save interesting restaurants when I see them. As a relatively busy person, those instances are not so often, but I can see many of my friends on the service have been far more active. ↩
Today a really neat service for busy mothers was released here in Japan. My Chef is a website that brings professional chefs to people’s home for a reasonable price. Whether you’re throwing a home party or just craving a delicious meal for dinner, the chefs come right to your door to cook at your house. The site limits its users to females only, and requires login via Facebook authentication. On the website users can enter the train station nearest to their location, as well as the date when they would like to use the service. After that it will provide a list of available chefs. After a chef is chosen the site sends out a short questionnaire, and based on the answers the chef will create a menu that suits the user’s preferences. The chef takes care of everything including buying the necessary ingredients, cooking, and even cleaning up afterwards. All of this can be enjoyed for a very affordable price, starting at 3,000 yen (or about $30), which is the minimum order for four people. My Chef is available in bigger cities in the Kanto area like Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki, and Saitama. At the time of release, the number…
Today a really neat service for busy mothers was released here in Japan. My Chef is a website that brings professional chefs to people’s home for a reasonable price. Whether you’re throwing a home party or just craving a delicious meal for dinner, the chefs come right to your door to cook at your house.
The site limits its users to females only, and requires login via Facebook authentication. On the website users can enter the train station nearest to their location, as well as the date when they would like to use the service. After that it will provide a list of available chefs. After a chef is chosen the site sends out a short questionnaire, and based on the answers the chef will create a menu that suits the user’s preferences. The chef takes care of everything including buying the necessary ingredients, cooking, and even cleaning up afterwards. All of this can be enjoyed for a very affordable price, starting at 3,000 yen (or about $30), which is the minimum order for four people.
My Chef is available in bigger cities in the Kanto area like Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki, and Saitama. At the time of release, the number of chefs registered on the site is still limited to roughly 30, but we can expect this number to grow as the service expands. There are a variety of professional chefs on the site, including some restaurant chefs and cooking class Instructors.
Women’s lives change enormously after they have kids, with fewer opportunities to go out and enjoy meals. My Chef was started as a solution for such women to enable them to experience great food in the comfort of their own home. My Chef hopes to make this new dining experience a viable and affordable option for a wide user base in less than three years.
See the original story in Japanese. Star Festival, the Japanese startup behind Bento box delivery and catering service, Gochikuru.com, announced today it has raised 1 billion yen (or about $10 million) from Jafco, one of Japan’s leading VC firms. With these funds, the company will expand its service to areas all around the country. Currently their service is available only in the five urban areas of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, and Fukuoka. Since its launch back in 2009, Gochikuru has been providing a variety of meals from its partner lunch vendors. To date they have partnered with more than 210 lunch-box brands and served more than 3.2 million users. With these new funds, the company plans to add customer representatives and improve its logistics and distribution network. For example, it will provide lunch-box line-ups from famous Tokyo sushi brands to consumers living in the southern island of Okinawa. This is typically impossible because of the distances, but it can be done in partnership with local lunch vendors that can follow recipes provided by a particular sushi brand. It is really interesting to see the company cultivating a license/production business in the food market. There are great opportunities in this industry,…
Star Festival, the Japanese startup behind Bento box delivery and catering service, Gochikuru.com, announced today it has raised 1 billion yen (or about $10 million) from Jafco, one of Japan’s leading VC firms. With these funds, the company will expand its service to areas all around the country. Currently their service is available only in the five urban areas of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, and Fukuoka.
Since its launch back in 2009, Gochikuru has been providing a variety of meals from its partner lunch vendors. To date they have partnered with more than 210 lunch-box brands and served more than 3.2 million users.
With these new funds, the company plans to add customer representatives and improve its logistics and distribution network. For example, it will provide lunch-box line-ups from famous Tokyo sushi brands to consumers living in the southern island of Okinawa. This is typically impossible because of the distances, but it can be done in partnership with local lunch vendors that can follow recipes provided by a particular sushi brand.
It is really interesting to see the company cultivating a license/production business in the food market. There are great opportunities in this industry, one often overlooked by most in the startup space.
Junya Mori
See the original story in Japanese. Kitchhike is a website that lets you experience meals prepared by locals (usually) in their home while you travel abroad. In a way, it is a sort of AirBnB for home-cooked meals. The service, which launches officially today, is a matching platform connects cooks and travelers in kitchens around the world. If you are interested in having local dishes when you travel, this site gives you a chance to dine on homemade dishes with local people instead of just visiting local restaurants. Currently it has 32 menus from six countries: Japan, Korea, mainland China, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In online travel space, AirBnB focuses on finding accommodations, and Meetrip gives you a way to find a tour given by local people. Kitchhike’s proposed value is that it connects you with both local meals and local people, adding “delicious experiences” to your travel itinerary. This startup was founded by two entrepreneurs: Masaya Yamamoto, who previously worked at one of Japanese ad giant Hakuhodo DY Media Partners; and Syoken Fujisaki, who worked at Japanese thinktank Nomura Research Institute. Local people, local experiences In their announcement, they elaborate on what makes the service unique: Food culture is…
See the original story in Japanese.
Kitchhike is a website that lets you experience meals prepared by locals (usually) in their home while you travel abroad. In a way, it is a sort of AirBnB for home-cooked meals.
The service, which launches officially today, is a matching platform connects cooks and travelers in kitchens around the world. If you are interested in having local dishes when you travel, this site gives you a chance to dine on homemade dishes with local people instead of just visiting local restaurants. Currently it has 32 menus from six countries: Japan, Korea, mainland China, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
In online travel space, AirBnB focuses on finding accommodations, and Meetrip gives you a way to find a tour given by local people. Kitchhike’s proposed value is that it connects you with both local meals and local people, adding “delicious experiences” to your travel itinerary.
This startup was founded by two entrepreneurs: Masaya Yamamoto, who previously worked at one of Japanese ad giant Hakuhodo DY Media Partners; and Syoken Fujisaki, who worked at Japanese thinktank Nomura Research Institute.
In their announcement, they elaborate on what makes the service unique:
Food culture is not really created intentionally, but rather it is an accumulation, [intertwined with the] history of neighborhoods. Every single household has different meals, and these are the places that give you a real local feeling. For visitors, a meal served by local people might be one of the most exciting parts of encountering a new culture.
In addition to the usual sightseeing destinations, we believe that a table filled with homemade meals by local people is also a destination most people have never experienced.
Your homemade meals can take on a new value when you make them available to people outside your social circle. It’s not only globe trotters, but even your neighbors might be interested in experiencing your homemade meals.
For users who want to cook for someone (they are referred to as ‘cooks’ on the platform), you simply log on to the service and register what dishes you can prepare.
For users who want to eat dishes cooked by other users, you can choose a place (a cook’s residence) and contact them via the messaging feature. Subsequently they will schedule what time you can visit. To avoid any possible risk that might go along with meeting up with strangers, the service is linked up with Facebook for identification purposes.
The service is starting out in Asian regions, with some coverage in Europe and North America. But they are hoping for global expansion in the future.
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Nisshin’s Cup Noodle product is eaten in 80 countries around the world, with more than 31 billion cups having been sold in its near 50 year history, of which Japanese people ate 20 billion. Interestingly, the product is also associated with many early stage startups. There are even expressions like ‘Ramen Profitable‘ by Paul Graham. There are about 34,000 ramen restaurants in Japan according to Tsurumi Ramen, and interestingly that industry has spawned more than a few ramen-related apps, as well as fun products. Here are just a few of them: The Ramen Now With over 300,000 downloads, this app allows users to find ramen restaurants nearby by using geolocation. It also provides coupons for some restaurants giving users a reason to try out different ramen. It has Twitter integration, letting people share ramen they like with friends. The app is currently available for both iOS and Android. Cho Ramen Map Cho can be roughly translated as ‘extreme.’ And this app is extremely detailed in that it even has information like the thickness of ramen noodles at different restaurants. Of course there is also more general information about restaurants’ hours too. It’s available on Google Play. Mitsukete Ramen Mitsukete means…
Nisshin’s Cup Noodle product is eaten in 80 countries around the world, with more than 31 billion cups having been sold in its near 50 year history, of which Japanese people ate 20 billion. Interestingly, the product is also associated with many early stage startups. There are even expressions like ‘Ramen Profitable‘ by Paul Graham. There are about 34,000 ramen restaurants in Japan according to Tsurumi Ramen, and interestingly that industry has spawned more than a few ramen-related apps, as well as fun products. Here are just a few of them:
With over 300,000 downloads, this app allows users to find ramen restaurants nearby by using geolocation. It also provides coupons for some restaurants giving users a reason to try out different ramen. It has Twitter integration, letting people share ramen they like with friends. The app is currently available for both iOS and Android.
Cho can be roughly translated as ‘extreme.’ And this app is extremely detailed in that it even has information like the thickness of ramen noodles at different restaurants. Of course there is also more general information about restaurants’ hours too. It’s available on Google Play.
Mitsukete means ‘to find’ in Japanese. It is yet another ramen restaurant map application provided by Gurunavi, one of the major Yelp-like sites in Japan. Users are rewarded with stamps for ramen they have ‘conquered’ and can make a log of their ramen experience. The app is currently available on Google Play.
The name of this app translates into ‘Everyone’s Ramen Timer’, and as you may have guessed by now, it is a cooking timer dedicated exclusively to ramen. It’s for people who opt to go with cup noodles at home, rather than eating out. By reading the barcode on different cup noodles, it automatically sets its timer for that particular type. Just tap the start button and it will tell you when your noodles are most delish! You can also find your favorite cup noodles from favorites and history. It’s available over on Google Play.
Now, if these apps aren’t enough to fulfill your ramen appetite, you can order popular ramen from restaurants online which you can then cook at home. The ecommerce startup launched back in July of 2010, and it’s called Takumen. In a year and a half after its launch, the site has sold over 100,000 items to noodle lovers all over Japan. We’ve heard that they have global expansion in mind, and if that happens, we will be sure to let you know!
We recently came across some cute Cup Noodle merchandise designed by Japanese design studio Nendo, which was produced for the Nisshin Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama. The Cup noodle Matryoshka (pictured above) takes the brand’s iconic packaging and makes it into a matryoshka-like container, with a cup in a cup in a cup (in a dream?).
Cup noodle forms (below) is another interesting product, making a slight change in the form and shape of the cup to transform it into something entirely different.
Read this story in Japanese. When you go for a night out on the town, how do you find the best restaurant? In Japan, most people rely on internet resources such as Tabelog, Gournavi, Naver Matome, or even blog posts. But with Japan’s high internet penetration, many people in your area are probably doing the same thing. As a result, it can be even the harder to reserve a spot in the restaurant you want. Pocket Concierge was recently launched with the aim at solving this kind of problem, allowing you to book even popular restaurants that might be wait-listed for several months. How does it work? You bookmark the restaurant of your choice by clicking the ‘wish-to-go’ button on the Pocket Concierge website. When the restaurant finds any unexpected vacancy in their reservation list, they will e-mail you an invite through the site. You will be requested to enter what day and how many people are in your party. Pocket Concierge will then e-mail you confirmation of the booking after finalizing with the restaurant. While popular restaurants are tough to reserve, when they experience sudden cancellations they could be wasting food – and it’s useful for them to be…
When you go for a night out on the town, how do you find the best restaurant? In Japan, most people rely on internet resources such as Tabelog, Gournavi, Naver Matome, or even blog posts. But with Japan’s high internet penetration, many people in your area are probably doing the same thing. As a result, it can be even the harder to reserve a spot in the restaurant you want.
Pocket Concierge was recently launched with the aim at solving this kind of problem, allowing you to book even popular restaurants that might be wait-listed for several months.
How does it work? You bookmark the restaurant of your choice by clicking the ‘wish-to-go’ button on the Pocket Concierge website. When the restaurant finds any unexpected vacancy in their reservation list, they will e-mail you an invite through the site. You will be requested to enter what day and how many people are in your party. Pocket Concierge will then e-mail you confirmation of the booking after finalizing with the restaurant.
While popular restaurants are tough to reserve, when they experience sudden cancellations they could be wasting food – and it’s useful for them to be able to invite other customers instead. Interestingly, the service is not PC dependent as it is also available to use via fax.
Pocket Concierge was founded by Kei Tokado who was has experience in the restaurant business, including time as a restaurant chef. His unique background and insight made it possible to come up with such an idea, having seen the need for such a service first hand.
Pocket Concierge has been operating in closed beta since the beginning of this year. And so far they have intriguing insights, finding that sales professionals in their 30s often dined with business partners, and male business owners in their 40s were also very responsive. Kei Tokado explains:
We previously intended to provide users with an alternative way to book ‘hard-to-reserve’ restaurants. But from the closed beta program, we found that customers using our service were very satisfied because participating restaurants provided them with extra rewards when the customers dined. In comparison to existing restaurant-related online services, we believe we provide more value, even offline.
We heard from many restaurants that it’s possible to learn in advance the sort of occasion a customer might have, or if they have certain ingredients they dislike or might be allergic to. This information makes it possible to provide a service which fits the customer very well.
For users, it’s free to make a reservation more than three days in advance of your visit, but otherwise you will be charged. The service started in Tokyo but expects to expand to other major Japanese cities including Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, and Fukuoka.
This is part of our “Crowdfunding in Japan” series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, and the following is a prime example. At CES 2013 Hapilabs turned a lot of heads with their smart fork. That device promotes healthier eating by making sure you don’t eat too much or too fast. But another unique utensil from Cerevo Dash, the EaTheremin, aspires to enrich your dining experience by turning your meals into a musical performance. How does it work? I’m glad you asked. The handle and tip of the fork contain separate electrodes, which create a weak electric current flowing through the food and the body (mouth → handle) when you eat. It plays different sounds depending on the type of food on the fork and the way in which it is eaten (according to changes in electrical resistance). All you have to do is add the battery and it’s ready for use. There are two varieties of EaTheremin. The digital version selects and plays pre-loaded sound effects from the internal memory based on the food’s electrical resistance. For…
This is part of our “Crowdfunding in Japan” series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, and the following is a prime example.
At CES 2013 Hapilabs turned a lot of heads with their smart fork. That device promotes healthier eating by making sure you don’t eat too much or too fast. But another unique utensil from Cerevo Dash, the EaTheremin, aspires to enrich your dining experience by turning your meals into a musical performance.
How does it work? I’m glad you asked. The handle and tip of the fork contain separate electrodes, which create a weak electric current flowing through the food and the body (mouth → handle) when you eat. It plays different sounds depending on the type of food on the fork and the way in which it is eaten (according to changes in electrical resistance). All you have to do is add the battery and it’s ready for use.
There are two varieties of EaTheremin. The digital version selects and plays pre-loaded sound effects from the internal memory based on the food’s electrical resistance. For the analog version, simple sine waves change subtly based on the food’s electrical resistance and how you eat, thus producing a sound like a theremin for your enjoyment [1].
This is a cool idea for a number of reasons. The fork could prove an effective tool in convincing picky children to eat foods they don’t like or helping hospital patients or elderly folks with cognitive impairments to enjoy meals again.
They raised ¥308,500, but regrettably the project concluded before the designers could reach their reaching the funding target. But we hope that this clever fork can find its way to our dinner tables sometime soon.
The theremin is an electronic musical instrument from Russia, played without making physical contact. You simply move your hand in proximity to the instrument. If you’ve ever listed to Good Vibrations from The Beach Boys, that weird whining instrument is a theremin. ↩
Oisix, an online home delivery service for organic vegetables and preservative-free foods in Japan, was approved to be listed on the TSE Mothers market, a stock market for emerging companies. Currently the company’s main shareholders include several VC firms, mail order giant Nissen, and cosmetics producer Shiseido. The IPO is scheduled to take place on March 13th, 2013. Oisix was founded in 1997 by ex-McKinsey consultant Kohei Takashima who started a food delivery service to homes back in 2000. The company saw 12.6 billion yen (approximately $134 million) in revenue with a net profit of 332 million yen ($3.5 million) in the previous fiscal year. The company’s service has won a huge following among housewives and foodies because it provides variety packages of seasonal vegetables and fish products that can be directly delivered from contracted farmers, fishermen, and food producers. On a related note, Radishbo-ya, which is doing business in the same field as Oisix, was acquired by NTT DoCoMo as the telco aims to diversify its revenue stream in mobile commerce sales.
Oisix, an online home delivery service for organic vegetables and preservative-free foods in Japan, was approved to be listed on the TSE Mothers market, a stock market for emerging companies. Currently the company’s main shareholders include several VC firms, mail order giant Nissen, and cosmetics producer Shiseido. The IPO is scheduled to take place on March 13th, 2013.
Oisix was founded in 1997 by ex-McKinsey consultant Kohei Takashima who started a food delivery service to homes back in 2000. The company saw 12.6 billion yen (approximately $134 million) in revenue with a net profit of 332 million yen ($3.5 million) in the previous fiscal year.
The company’s service has won a huge following among housewives and foodies because it provides variety packages of seasonal vegetables and fish products that can be directly delivered from contracted farmers, fishermen, and food producers.
On a related note, Radishbo-ya, which is doing business in the same field as Oisix, was acquired by NTT DoCoMo as the telco aims to diversify its revenue stream in mobile commerce sales.
Rick Martin
Takeshi Hirano
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
