pluszero Rolls Out AI Operator 'miraio' to Horii Food Service; Automating Reservations at Two 'Kakurean Shinobuya' Locations from May 18
pluszero Inc. will launch the AI operator 'miraio', jointly developed with Upsell Technologies, at two 'Kakurean Shinobuya' locations operated by Horii Food Service starting May 18, 2026. The initiative automates restaurant reservation tasks to support labor shortage resolution.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 19, 2026 at 03:30
- 🔍 Collected: May 18, 2026 at 19:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 18, 2026 at 19:17 (15 min after Collected)
pluszero Inc. (Headquarters: Setagaya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, Chairman and CEO: Yoshiyuki Koshiro / Representative Director, President and COO: Ryota Mori; hereinafter "the Company") announces that the AI operator "miraio," jointly developed and operated with Upsell Technologies Inc. (Headquarters: Toshima-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, CEO and Group Chairman: Ryota Takahashi / Representative Director and CFO: Masaki Ehara; hereinafter "Upsell Technologies"), will be rolled out. The custom "miraio for Horii Food Service," developed through a three-party collaboration with Horii Food Service Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture; Representative Director and President: Akihisa Fujita; hereinafter "Horii Food Service"), will commence operations at two "Kakurean Shinobuya" locations starting Monday, May 18, 2026.
Through this initiative, the companies will promote the efficiency of restaurant reservation operations and the AI transformation of store management, supporting a next-generation store management model that helps resolve labor shortages and improves user convenience.
■ Introduction to "Kakurean Shinobuya"
"Kakurean Shinobuya" is a restaurant brand characterized by a "Japanese" aesthetic that emphasizes a sense of privacy with fully private seating. As part of the digital transformation (DX) of the brand's store operations, the AI operator "miraio," jointly developed and operated by the Company and Upsell Technologies, has been implemented.
With this implementation, store staff can reduce work interruptions caused by answering phone calls, allowing them to focus more on providing meticulous hospitality to visiting customers and creating the high-quality atmosphere that is the brand's strength.
■ Implementing Stores and Start Date
- Target Brand: "Kakurean Shinobuya"
- Implementing Stores: Warabi Station East Exit Store, Yashio Station Store
- Start Date: From Monday, May 18, 2026
■ Feature Characteristics and Future Outlook
The current version of the AI operator "miraio" is capable of handling the following conversations:
- Reservation changes and cancellations (partial support)
- Automatic vacancy determination and response based on date, time, and party size (partial support)
- Reservation information verification (partial support)
- Preferred reservation dates and times
- Hearing names and phone numbers
- Hearing course selections and guiding precautions for courses
- Information based on business hours and regular holidays
- Other FAQs
- Flexible responses to conversations that deviate from standard patterns
Moving forward, the Company, alongside Upsell Technologies, will strongly back the sequential expansion of implementing stores within Horii Food Service. Furthermore, by feeding back the knowledge gained through this initiative into AI development, we aim to establish a next-generation store management model that leads the restaurant industry.
■ What is "AEI (Artificial Elastic Intelligence)"?
"AEI (Artificial Elastic Intelligence)," advocated by the Company, is a proprietary concept focusing on the natural language processing field, referring to "AI that can perform tasks like a human within a specific, limited scope of operations." In place of "Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)," which is considered difficult to realize with current AI technology, the Company is advancing the development of "AEI," a technology that enables business execution at a practical level by narrowing down specific conditions.
"AEI" has the characteristic of being able to enhance the reliability of AI chat services using LLMs (Large Language Models), which have been dominating recent discussions. While "Trusted AI" and "Responsible AI" have been indicated as the direction for resolving the widespread adoption of Large Language Model technology, "AEI" is the embodiment of this.
In September 2021, the Company acquired a patent based on "Semantic Understanding AI," which forms the foundation of AEI. Moving forward, through a series of initiatives, "AEI" will be realized by advancing the research and development of "Semantic Understanding AI" that can understand human language at a high level.
■ Company Overview
Company Name: pluszero Inc.
Representatives: Representative Director, Chairman and CEO Yoshiyuki Koshiro / Representative Director, President and COO Ryota Mori
Location: Senda Building 4F, 2-6-10 Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Business Description: Provision, development, maintenance, operation, and sales of solutions that integrally utilize various technologies such as AI, natural language processing, software, and hardware, as well as contract work and ancillary consulting services.
URL: https://plus-zero.co.jp/
Company Name: Upsell Technologies Inc.
Representatives: Representative Directors Ryota Takahashi / Masaki Ehara
Location: Rikuo Nishi-Ikebukuro Building 6F, 5-26-19 Nishi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
Business Description: PUT Business (AI development and provision)
Through this initiative, the companies will promote the efficiency of restaurant reservation operations and the AI transformation of store management, supporting a next-generation store management model that helps resolve labor shortages and improves user convenience.
■ Introduction to "Kakurean Shinobuya"
"Kakurean Shinobuya" is a restaurant brand characterized by a "Japanese" aesthetic that emphasizes a sense of privacy with fully private seating. As part of the digital transformation (DX) of the brand's store operations, the AI operator "miraio," jointly developed and operated by the Company and Upsell Technologies, has been implemented.
With this implementation, store staff can reduce work interruptions caused by answering phone calls, allowing them to focus more on providing meticulous hospitality to visiting customers and creating the high-quality atmosphere that is the brand's strength.
■ Implementing Stores and Start Date
- Target Brand: "Kakurean Shinobuya"
- Implementing Stores: Warabi Station East Exit Store, Yashio Station Store
- Start Date: From Monday, May 18, 2026
■ Feature Characteristics and Future Outlook
The current version of the AI operator "miraio" is capable of handling the following conversations:
- Reservation changes and cancellations (partial support)
- Automatic vacancy determination and response based on date, time, and party size (partial support)
- Reservation information verification (partial support)
- Preferred reservation dates and times
- Hearing names and phone numbers
- Hearing course selections and guiding precautions for courses
- Information based on business hours and regular holidays
- Other FAQs
- Flexible responses to conversations that deviate from standard patterns
Moving forward, the Company, alongside Upsell Technologies, will strongly back the sequential expansion of implementing stores within Horii Food Service. Furthermore, by feeding back the knowledge gained through this initiative into AI development, we aim to establish a next-generation store management model that leads the restaurant industry.
■ What is "AEI (Artificial Elastic Intelligence)"?
"AEI (Artificial Elastic Intelligence)," advocated by the Company, is a proprietary concept focusing on the natural language processing field, referring to "AI that can perform tasks like a human within a specific, limited scope of operations." In place of "Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)," which is considered difficult to realize with current AI technology, the Company is advancing the development of "AEI," a technology that enables business execution at a practical level by narrowing down specific conditions.
"AEI" has the characteristic of being able to enhance the reliability of AI chat services using LLMs (Large Language Models), which have been dominating recent discussions. While "Trusted AI" and "Responsible AI" have been indicated as the direction for resolving the widespread adoption of Large Language Model technology, "AEI" is the embodiment of this.
In September 2021, the Company acquired a patent based on "Semantic Understanding AI," which forms the foundation of AEI. Moving forward, through a series of initiatives, "AEI" will be realized by advancing the research and development of "Semantic Understanding AI" that can understand human language at a high level.
■ Company Overview
Company Name: pluszero Inc.
Representatives: Representative Director, Chairman and CEO Yoshiyuki Koshiro / Representative Director, President and COO Ryota Mori
Location: Senda Building 4F, 2-6-10 Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Business Description: Provision, development, maintenance, operation, and sales of solutions that integrally utilize various technologies such as AI, natural language processing, software, and hardware, as well as contract work and ancillary consulting services.
URL: https://plus-zero.co.jp/
Company Name: Upsell Technologies Inc.
Representatives: Representative Directors Ryota Takahashi / Masaki Ehara
Location: Rikuo Nishi-Ikebukuro Building 6F, 5-26-19 Nishi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
Business Description: PUT Business (AI development and provision)
FAQ
What tasks does miraio automate in restaurants?
It automates phone reservations, vacancy checks and responses, and course inquiries.
What are the benefits of implementing an AI operator?
Staff can focus on serving visiting customers without interruptions from phone calls, helping resolve labor shortages.
What is the difference between AGI and AEI?
While AGI aims for human-like intelligence across all domains, AEI is an AI that achieves practical utility by limiting its scope to specific tasks.