NEWS

OPT Incubate Inc. (main office in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, CEO Atsushi Nouchi, referred to as “OPT Incubate” below) announces that it is updating the corporate identity of its PRIME CHEF catering service, and has renewed the service’s logo and site as of April 25th, 2019.

<Background behind Renewal and Future Developments>

The PRIME CHEF service has been mainly a matching service for catering ever since it was launched in 2015, but OPT Incubate decided to embark on this renewal project due to a sense that the matching framework might be too constricting based on future plans for the service.

We have been providing a service in which a large number of caterers have participated, in order to solve the problems of customers such as those with small children who cannot relax while eating out of the home, or who want to enjoy a peaceful birthday party for a grandmother or grandfather at home with the family, or who want to eat out but cannot for some reason, or who want to enjoy a nice meal at home.

However, we have come to the fundamental realization that what we need to provide to our customers goes beyond simply matching chefs and customers, and also includes a background story, a place and time to provide food, and assistance for customers in enjoying food even more during the time we are together. Therefore, in addition to our matching service, we would also like to offer a more special dining experience by offering customers “delicious time” with our chefs as well, by applying all of our whole-hearted devotion.

At the same time, in addition to the chefs participating currently in PRIME CHEF who specialize in catering, there are also many participating chefs who have their own eating and drinking establishments.

All of these chefs share a strong desire to transform the world through food. For instance, there are those who want to “transform how chefs work,” as well as issues such as “food loss,” “dietary education,” “solitary eating,” and so on.
 
These chefs embody a strong desire to use food as a means of expression, and they work ceaselessly on behalf of others day in and day out.

We feel that what we should be as PRIME CHEF, as a so-called “incubation platform,” is a place where these chefs with their strong desires and expressive capabilities can quickly bring their ideals to life.

To this end, we will continue working with these chefs as we accelerate our activities leading to the future of food, based on the experience and know-how we have cultivated up to this point in our catering matching service.

<Overview of Renewed PRIME CHEF Logo>
 

The large P in the logo represents three concepts.

PRIME: Special, essential
PROGRESS: Progress
PLATFORM: Space, location

When the overview of the design is considered, it is meant to give a simple yet memorable impression that incorporates the main idea of PRIME CHEF as a catering service that offers “special dining experiences for everyone.”


<Overview of Renewed PRIME CHEF Site>

■URL of renewed site
https://www.primechef.cooking/

As a collaboration with PRIMECHEF×Hoegaarden, the new site started taking reservations on April 25th for the “Hoegaarden URBAN PICNIC” as a picnic “one notch above the rest.”

■Campaign site
https://hoegaarden.jp/picnic-delivery/

In addition, as a part of the renewal of the PRIME CHEF site, we will be gradually adding more new features in order to more effectively bring the experiences created by caterers to our customers.

Specifically, we are planning to add the following services:
・AI concierge: A concierge function introducing an AI system
・Automatic matching function: A function that can generate proposals for dishes from chefs that match conditions selected by the customer
・Expansion to the Kansai area: We will be adding Kansai to the list of supported areas
・PRIME CHEF NOW (tentative name): A service that can call a caterer to a home or rental space as quickly as on the same day
・Share Kitchen: Will create opportunities for chefs to have their own restaurants with low initial investments

We will continue working hard to develop even better mechanisms for ensuring that the free time and skills of chefs are put to use, while bringing even more special dining experiences to our customers.

<Looking for More Partners Who Share Our Vision>
PRIME CHEF is looking for more partners who want to promote activities leading to the future of food.