株式会社コークッキング
Tokyo, JP · Founded 2015 · 10 employees on LinkedIn · 11 known investors
Operator of TABETE, a Japanese food-sharing app that lets restaurants and shops sell surplus food to consumers to reduce food loss, alongside a TABETE rescue-deli service and pattern-language/creative-cooking workshop business mainly for corporate clients. Based in Tokyo, Japan.
Also known as CoCooking Co., Ltd. · TABETE · コークッキング
Founders & leadership
株式会社コークッキング was founded in 2015 by Taichi Isaku.
Investors · 11
Also in the syndicate · 8
Company profile
researched Aug 2026株式会社コークッキング (CoCooking Co., Ltd.) was established in December 2015 and operates three business lines. Its main business is TABETE, a food-sharing smartphone app launched in 2018 that lists food at risk of disposal — bread, prepared dishes, boxed meals, cakes and cancelled reservations — from bakeries, delicatessens, restaurants and retailers, and matches it with users who pay by credit card in the app and collect the item in store (a "rescue"). Stores can list items one at a time and, according to the company, the system can be adopted by any store with an internet-connected device and typically becomes embedded in store operations in about a week.
A second line, TABETE Rescue Deli, has the company buy up unsold food from tenants of commercial facilities and station buildings after closing and resell it, including to facility employees. A third line applies "pattern language" — a method for verbalising and systematising tacit knowledge — to support collaboration, idea generation and communication inside organisations; the company also has a history of creative-cooking team-building workshops sold mainly to corporate clients. Its stated vision is to contribute to a society in which everyone can realise a creative and human life, using food as an entry point to questions of creativity, diversity and sustainable production and consumption.
Founding story
CEO Kazuma Kawagoe graduated from Keio University in 2014, trained as a Japanese-cuisine cook while a student and then worked in restaurant operations at Sapporo Lion. He moved to Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi in July 2015, where he renovated vacant houses into a community cafe and launched a children's cafeteria, and founded CoCooking in December 2015. Co-founder Taichi Isaku started the company while a graduate student at Keio (master's completed 2017) and led commercialisation of creative-cooking workshops before launching TABETE.
Business model
Two-sided marketplace: food businesses list surplus items on the TABETE app and consumers pre-pay in-app before collecting them in store, with no cash handled at the counter. The Rescue Deli business is a buy-and-resell model in which CoCooking purchases tenants' unsold food and sells it on within commercial facilities and station premises. Pattern-language work is a project/consulting-style service for organisations.
Revenue derives from transactions on the TABETE platform (2021 fiscal-year gross transaction value reported at about JPY 100 million), resale of purchased surplus food through TABETE Rescue Deli, and fees from pattern-language production and workshop engagements.
Traction
As of January 2022 the company reported roughly 490,000 registered users, about 2,000 registered stores, cumulative reduction of about 250,000 meals of food loss, more than 600 corporate adopters, fiscal 2021 gross transaction value of about JPY 100 million and 292% year-on-year growth in monthly transaction value. Capital including capital reserve stood at JPY 402,506,336, and an investment-data profile records a post-money valuation of JPY 1,553 million as of December 2024.
Latest developments
The company site reports food-loss cooperation agreements with Kyoto City (8 August 2025), Sumida Ward (21 May 2025) and Meguro Ward (April 2024), and a joint initiative with Higashimatsuyama City, Tobu Railway, JA Saitama Chuo and Daito Bunka University. An investment-data profile records a Series B stage with a post-money valuation of JPY 1,553 million as of 19 December 2024, a July 2024 partnership with Orient Corporation to issue a TABETE-affiliated credit card, and a partnership with ZITTO offering membership benefits.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Described in its 2022 Series A announcement as one of Japan's largest food-loss reduction services and as ranking first by number of registered stores among takeout-type food-loss reduction services in Japan; about half of items listed on TABETE were reported to be rescued.
Positioning as an early, Japan-specific food-loss platform that lets sellers monetise surplus without damaging brand value, requires only an internet-connected device with roughly one week of operational onboarding, and complements the app with a buy-and-resell Rescue Deli operation in commercial facilities and station areas plus a pattern-language knowledge business.
Technology
Consumer iOS and Android apps plus a web service and a store-side listing interface; items posted by stores appear immediately in the app for users to browse, purchase by credit card and collect, with notifications to the store on purchase.
Go-to-market
Direct sales to food businesses combined with app-based consumer acquisition, supported by partnerships with corporates and infrastructure players (JR East Startup, Tobu Railway, Orient Corporation for a co-branded TABETE credit card, USEN-NEXT GROUP sales cooperation, Super Hotel breakfast buffets, Fujiya store rollout) and by cooperation agreements with local governments including Machida, Meguro, Sumida and Kyoto City.
On the supply side, bakeries, delicatessens and boxed-meal shops, restaurants, hotels, confectionery and bread chains, retailers and commercial-facility/station tenants; more than 600 companies had adopted TABETE cumulatively as of January 2022. On the demand side, consumers in Japan seeking discounted takeout with a food-loss-reduction rationale. Corporate and public-sector clients for pattern-language and partnership work.
Geography
Japan-only operations. The company site lists a Shibuya, Tokyo head office, while other filings list addresses in Higashimatsuyama (Saitama) and, historically, Minato and Chuo wards in Tokyo. TABETE has expanded nationwide, with tie-ups spanning Tokyo wards, Machida, Kyoto City, Higashimatsuyama and the Noto/Yamaguchi regions via regional funds.
History
Founded 1 December 2015, initially offering cooking-based team-building workshops for corporate clients. From 2017 the company worked to commercialise TABETE, positioned as Japan's first sharing service focused on food loss, launching the app in 2018. Third-party allotment financings followed in August 2018 and July 2019, then a pre-Series A round with a second close in August 2020 (JR East Startup, Social Entrepreneur 3, Higashimatsuyama Entrepreneur Support fund and Yoichi Aso), a third close in November 2020 and a further close in June 2021. A JPY 110 million Series A closed in January 2022, bringing cumulative funding to about JPY 380 million, alongside the appointment of Chieko Inoue of Globis as an outside director. Later steps include a TABETE-branded credit card with Orient Corporation (2024) and municipal food-loss cooperation agreements through 2025.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 14
launches, deals, and filingsPilot allowing food-loss items from Tobu Department Store Ikebukuro and nearby stores to be collected from dedicated lockers inside Ikebukuro Station.
Third-party allotment with KIBOW, SMBC Venture Capital, Yamaguchi Capital and the Noto SDGs Fund; cumulative funding reached about JPY 380 million.
Globis manager and Globis University faculty member Chieko Inoue joined as an outside director alongside the Series A round.
Financing from JR East Startup, Social Entrepreneur 3 Investment LPS, Higashimatsuyama Entrepreneur Support Investment LPS and Yoichi Aso, to fund service development, TABETE area expansion and TABETE Rescue Deli growth.
Co-founder Taichi Isaku led the launch of TABETE, a food-sharing app addressing food loss, after the company's earlier creative-cooking workshop business.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- 株式会社コークッキングcocooking.co.jp · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does 株式会社コークッキング do?
- Japanese operator of TABETE, a food-sharing app matching surplus restaurant and bakery food with consumers.
- Who founded 株式会社コークッキング?
- 株式会社コークッキング was founded by Taichi Isaku in 2015.
- Who are 株式会社コークッキング's investors?
- 株式会社コークッキング's investors include DD Holdings Venture Capital, JR East Start UP, NOW Japan.
- Where is 株式会社コークッキング headquartered?
- 株式会社コークッキング is headquartered in Tokyo, JP.