Automating premium hotel kitchens with sensors

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

Photo credit: Tomoko Nomoto

Recording audio allowed music to be shared globally and created a massive industry. Tomoko Nomoto wondered if the same framework could apply to culinary skills. She founded Ajiwow to digitize and reproduce professional cooking anywhere.

😟 Problem

The hospitality sector faces a severe shortage of culinary staff. A 2025 Japan Tourism Agency survey found 67.6% reported a shortage of cooks.

In affected areas, staff shortages reduce room availability by around 30% on average. This threatens core accommodation revenue for properties that include meals with guest stays.

💡 Solution

Ajiwow built Roku Shoku, a to record and replicate professional cooking processes. The platform relies on a mix of hardware and software components to guide kitchen staff, including: 

• Sensors and cameras capture heat, timing, stirring techniques, and moisture evaporation.
• A dedicated induction cooker automatically controls heat levels based on the recorded data.
• Video and voice instructions guide untrained kitchen staff through each physical step.

Image credit: Ajiwow

📊 Market size

International tourist arrivals hit 1.52 billion in 2025, increasing demand for hospitality services. Japan alone has over 50,000 hotel and ryokan properties.

Ajiwow estimates a 28.2 billion yen (US$179.7 million) annual revenue opportunity. This includes 6.6 billion yen (US$42.1 million) from 1,000 hotel subscriptions and 21.6 billion yen (US$137.7 million) from 300 company-operated cloud kitchens.

🤝 Team

Tomoko Nomoto. Founder and CEO. She spent years developing products at Sony and led the Roku Shoku initiative within Sony R&D before spinning it out to commercialize the technology.

🚀 Traction

• Secured a pilot project with a major Japanese restaurant chain.
• Progressing through introductions to potential hotel customers facilitated by the Japan Tourism Agency.
• Validated the system in a 10-week pop-up where non-professionals successfully recreated four chefs’ dishes after 15 minutes of training.

🏆 Competition

The startup competes with cooking robot manufacturers BOTINKIT and TechMagic. These alternatives rely on rotating-pan mechanisms that struggle with delicate ingredient handling. Ajiwow combines automatic heat control with guided human execution to preserve precise culinary textures.

💰 Financials

🚩 Risks