Gimmick or recipe for success? Japan's convenience stores test AI flavours

Japanese convenience store chains are turning to AI for dessert ideas. Some are unexpected mashups. A pickle-flavoured lemon tart might seem an unlikely dessert, but Japanese convenience store chains are betting that artificial intelligence (AI) can help them find combinations customers never knew they wanted. Popular convenience store chains FamilyMart and Lawson are using the technology to develop new food products, looking for ideas that go beyond familiar flavours. The experiments come amid wider concerns about AI replacing workers and increasingly powerful systems slipping beyond human control. Here, the technology’s role is more modest — suggesting what might go into your next snack. AI supplied the ideas, but humans still had to turn them into something worth eating. Companies used the technology mainly for brainstorming, with human specialists involved in developing the final products. FamilyMart fed sales data into AI to help develop a French-style canelé made with dough containing sweet potato purée and topped with caramel sauce. The chain said it wanted to create something new but likely to sell. In July, the chain test-launched its first AI experiment with a biscuit sandwich filled with thick milk cream. Rival chain Lawson took a different approach, asking AI for unexpected combinations without feeding it past sales figures or market data to generate ideas “unconstrained by existing ways of thinking or market trends," according to a statement from the company. One suggestion was to pair lemon tart with pickles. For Shingo Shiina, a 64-year-old who works in architecture, the combination came as a surprise. “I was like ‘huh’ at first, but it actually goes pretty well, doesn’t it? The pickles. I’m surprised,” he said after tasting the tart. “It’s a strange flavour, but it’s tasty. It really is delicious.” Shiina was also impressed by the idea itself. “You’d probably never come up with this, right? Pickles and this. I don’t think a human would ever think of that. That’s AI for you,” he said. Lawson’s other AI-inspired products include a bread roll filled with red bean paste, margarine and yoghurt cream, and a Japanese-style salad presented like a parfait. The pickle-flavoured lemon tart is being launched in Tokyo and surrounding regions in September, according to Lawson.