#Japan #Tokyo #AI-OCR #RECERQA Hub #Kuze

Recerqa Revolutionizes Product Management for Kuze

On April 13, 2026, Recerqa Inc., headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, announced its partnership with Kuze Co., a wholesale supplier of restaurant ingredients based in Toshima, Tokyo. They have rolled out the product master management system called RECERQA Hub to address pressing challenges in product information management.

Challenges Faced by Kuze

The food service industry is currently grappling with a rapidly evolving landscape due to the rise of e-commerce, tightened logistics networks, and growing customer inquiries. These external changes have resulted in an increased demand for detailed product information. However, Kuze faced a dilemma: while their product specification documents contained rich information, manual entry limitations and restrictions of their core systems meant they were unable to store comprehensive product information. This led to significant challenges where sales representatives had to frequently contact suppliers for information, and only those familiar with product details could adequately respond to customer inquiries.

Deciding Factors for Implementation

Kuze opted for RECERQA Hub due to its ability to facilitate flexible management and utilization of product information that existing systems could not provide. Key factors in this decision included:

1. Flexible Product Information Management Beyond Core System Constraints
RECERQA Hub allows for the management of over 100 items of essential information, like allergy details, nutritional content, and origin, surpassing the limitations of traditional core systems. It can manage images and PDFs related to products as well, enabling the establishment of a central product database for the company.

2. Advanced Information Utilization through Generative AI
The system supports ambiguous searches using natural language, empowering sales staff to access required product information quickly by simply describing it, such as “allergy-friendly [product]”. Additionally, generative AI automatically creates product descriptions and suggests data, enhancing the quality of information available on e-commerce platforms and for customer interactions.

3. Efficiency Gains through AI-OCR Collaboration
The next-gen AI-OCR tool, RECERQA Scan, automates data input from product specification sheets that come in various formats unique to each supplier, seamlessly integrating this data into RECERQA Hub. This automation allows for comprehensive data capture of detailed information, which was otherwise challenging to achieve manually.

Expected Benefits of Implementation

With the introduction of AI-driven ambiguous search capabilities, sales staff can quickly access necessary information without navigating through direct keywords. Coupled with integration of AI-OCR, the data processing from product specification sheets will be automated, which significantly reduces workload. This automation will eliminate risks of transcription errors from manual entry while ensuring data accuracy and improved operational efficiency.

About RECERQA Hub

RECERQA Hub is a product master management system that centralizes product information and uses generative AI to enhance data value. It addresses several challenges, such as:

• - Inability to accurately analyze due to unorganized master data.
• - Desire to streamline product information registration processes.
• - Difficulties in maintaining multiple e-commerce sites.
• - Need for operational efficiency throughout the entire product information registration process.

About RECERQA Scan

RECERQA Scan is a next-generation AI-OCR that supports non-standard forms without requiring template creation. It accurately digitizes complex layouts that include handwritten content and documents lacking a uniform format. This data is seamlessly integrated into RECERQA Hub.

Commitment Statements

Hiroyuki Shinohara, Sales Director at Kuze

"We envisioned a core system that is intuitive and efficient, much like the user experience with high-utility e-commerce or AI technology. With the implementation of RECERQA, we aim to enhance and streamline complex product information management, linking it to increased sales, and use precise product data for developing more effective sales strategies while also focusing on cost reduction through improved efficiency. Moving forward, we hope to advance operational improvements jointly with Recerqa, strengthening our competitive edge in this rapidly changing market."

Shotaro Umeda, CEO of Recerqa

"We are delighted to contribute to Kuze’s challenges as they pursue their 100th anniversary. Through this proposal, we have learned that transformative figures exist within established companies, and these leaders can certainly create strong entities even in unpredictable times driven by generative AI. We are deeply honored to be positioned at the center of Kuze’s progressive initiatives and are committed to advancing AI utilization and operational improvement support."

Company Background

Founded in April 2022 and based in Shibaura, Tokyo, Recerqa's mission is to solve the previously insurmountable challenges through social implementation of AI. We develop and market solutions under the RECERQA brand, focused on supply chain management, including order placement agents, Agentic ERP products, and AI utilization consulting services to tackle persistent challenges experienced by clients.

For further inquiries, please contact
Recerqa Inc., Public Relations
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 03-6823-4784