Willmore Co., Ltd.Mayu Ishikawa

Tell us about the business of Willmore

Willmore offers two services named "Allergy Checker" and "Kumitasu."

Allergy Checker is a smartphone application which enables users to know what kind of allergens are contained in goods by simply holding their smartphones over the barcodes attached to the goods. Users can check a total of 27 kinds of allergen consisting of 7 kinds subject to the allergen labeling requirements (i.e. eggs, milk, wheat, buckwheat, shrimp, crab and peanuts) and 20 kinds recommended for labeling (e.g. soybeans, sesame and cashew nuts).

In Willmore's database, information on more than 110 thousand goods (food) is registered (as of November 2017), enabling users to check allergens using Allergy Checker. In addition, users can also search for original recipes that do not contain allergens by using Allergy Checker.

The second service, "Kumitasu," is an online service which enables users to find and purchase foods that do not contain specific food substances (currently 27 allergen items). The service is used by mothers of children with allergies, patients with allergies and people following dietary restrictions. For example, when you make searches by inputting the words "wheat-free" and "bread," wheat-free bread made of rice flour will be indicated and users will know the specific online store at which such bread is available now.

credit by Willmore Co., Ltd.

On Kumitasu, information on allergies is published every day and also campaigns on allergy-free goods are run as projects with food companies. Currently, half of Kumitasu users are using the application to view the pages showing columns.

Kumitasu, column page

Tell us the background that led to the offering of the two services.

Allergy Checker was released in 2011. There is a survey indicating that 40% of Japanese people have some sort of allergy until they reach three years old and that the number of food-allergic children has nearly doubled in the past decade. Currently, allergies are not a problem for some people, but when Allergy Checker was released, there was hardly any services for people with allergies.

It takes a great deal of time and labor to purchase goods at supermarkets by checking food information one by one. Although it has been increasing in recent years, the number of allergy-free goods is still small and the places where they can be purchased are limited.

We are managing Allergy Checker and Kumitasu with an aim to offer food options for people with allergies by reducing their time and effort for checking food information and enabling them to know what they can eat not only in relation to foodstuffs produced by specific food manufacturers but also various foodstuffs produced by various food manufacturers, instead of simply enabling them to check whether or not they can eat specific foodstuffs.

Tell us about the future developments.

We are making preparations to have visitors to Japan use Allergy Checker to check allergens in addition to increasing the number of goods. We are also planning various developments including those regarding school lunches.

Since we have food information that can be used for matters other than allergies, we expect to have Willmore's service used in various scenarios by increasing cooperation and campaigns with food companies with focus on the expansion of our business in areas of vegan, halal and diet foods.

I will take the rostrum at the 218th morning pitch featuring sightseeing and traveling to be held on December 7.