The Best Ramen Direct from Japan

Food-related exports have reached record highs for 11 consecutive years and will reach 1.45 trillion yen in 2023. This trend is also reflected on a global scale, with the number of Japanese restaurants abroad more than tripling over the past decade, from 55,000 in 2013 to nearly 200,000 today. How would you explain the recent increase in exports from Japan and the growing popularity of Japanese food?

The reason why Japanese food has come to be highly regarded is first and foremost its deliciousness, but it has also come to be widely recognized worldwide for its health benefits and well-balanced diet. As a result, I am very grateful and happy that Japanese food is now more widely appreciated.

Ichiran restaurants are in Hong Kong, the U.S., and Taiwan, and take-out ramen kits are exported to other countries. We hope that our success overseas will lead to further promotion of Fukuoka’s Hakata ward and ramen culture.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the number of inbound tourists from March to May this year exceeded 3 million each month, a significant increase over the past several years. In addition, the number of foreign tourists is expected to reach a record 35 million this year. Ichiran is popular with tourists everywhere, but it is especially popular in tourist destinations like Asakusa and Shibuya in Tokyo. What steps have you taken as a company to increase your appeal and reputation among foreign tourists?

Our presentation style is unique, with minimal or no verbal communication with our staff. A customer comes to the restaurant, purchases a meal ticket from a vending machine, sits down, fills out an order form, and the ramen is served. In other words, since language skills are not required, it is easy to appeal to inbound tourists and foreigners. We have also introduced multilingual order sheets about 20 years ago, and have had English, Chinese, and Korean order sheets available for foreign tourists since the beginning of our business. The taste itself is also an asset. Pork bone ramen usually has a strong smell, but our soup is refined and odorless. Because it is mild, it is easy to eat for those who are new to tonkotsu ramen.

The other is that coming to Ichiran is a kind of entertainment. We call it the Taste Concentration Counter, and you sit in a small individual booth and concentrate solely on your ramen. If you wish to have another bowl of noodles, called "baedama," you place your special plate on a unique sensor, and the melody of Ichiran's iconic charmera sounds, notifying the staff to bring you another bowl of noodles. Some people see this overall experience as an attraction.

After the COVID pandemic, e-commerce and online shopping have increased significantly, and this demand has persisted, with consumers benefiting from the convenience and choice that online shopping allows. Ichiran has a strong online presence with a wide selection of instant ramen and ramen sets, and a dedicated online store in the U.S. market. How does the development of your e-commerce store help promote your brand and flavor abroad, and is e-commerce an area with potential for future growth?

Customers who were unable to visit the store during the COVID period purchased Ichiran products through e-commerce, and we received many comments of delight that they were able to enjoy the Ichiran taste at home. That is the e-commerce business, which has grown and contributed to Ichiran's sales and branding, and we plan to continue strengthening the e-commerce business.

There are many different styles of ramen in Japan, each with its own unique flavor, ingredients, and regional characteristics, such as the clear taste of soy sauce, the creamy sweetness of miso, and the concentrated flavor of tsukemen. Among them, the rich, umami-concentrated tonkotsu, also known as pork bone broth, especially Ichiran's secret flavor, is loved by Japanese and foreign ramen lovers alike. Why is Ichiran's tonkotsu ramen so loved?

Attention to detail, especially in taste, is a strong point of each ramen restaurant company. As I mentioned earlier, the soup is extremely refined, with Ichiran's special soup process that reduces the strong odor of pork bone broth and makes it mild while retaining the essence of deep pork bone broth. The noodles are made using a method that best suits the humidity, temperature, and weather conditions of the day.

In fact, standardization of taste is our strength. In Itoshima, Fukuoka, we have a centralized kitchen called "Ichiran no Mori," where we make the dashi broth and secret red sauce that have been passed down from generation to generation. By providing the same dashi broth and special spicy red sauce, we are able to offer the same standard of taste both in Japan and abroad.

How can that be replicated abroad?

Restaurants overseas provide the same soup stock and red sauce from Japan, but the noodles must be made locally because of their short shelf life. Therefore, we dispatch noodle-making machines from Japan to make noodles that best match the local environment. Water is also different, so we have installed water purifiers to bring the water quality closer to that of Japan. We also conduct thorough training and regular inspections to ensure that the taste is the same as in Japan.

One of the key elements of Ichiran's distinctive flavor is the secret spicy red sauce you mentioned. How will someone inherit the secret recipe?

To be honest, I have no idea what ingredients or how this secret sauce is made. It is the company's top secret, and I do not even know how it will be passed on to the next generation.

Tofu and soybeans have long been an integral part of Japanese cuisine. However, vegetarian and plant-based foods have only recently become popular in Western markets as meatless alternatives. Ichiran is leading the way with its Vegetarian Ramen, a vegetarian version of the traditional pork bone broth in a plant-based broth. It is also available as a certified vegan ramen kit, which debuted in the U.S. market this year. What challenges did you face in developing a plant-based broth that meets the expectations of traditional ramen lovers, and how has the launch of vegetarian and vegan ramen affected Ichiran's market presence in the U.S. and Europe?

When we began to actively expand our business overseas, we realized that there were many people worldwide who were interested in our ramen but could not eat it due to dietary or religious restrictions. That is why we developed this vegan/vegetarian ramen. It took us six years to develop a deep, rich broth, similar to the taste of pork cutlet, without using any animal products. Thanks to our efforts, we were able to start selling it in the U.S. this year. In Southeast Asian countries with pork restrictions, we offer take-out kit products. We have been able to expand our sales channels by opening stores in shopping malls and department stores and offering vegetarian ramen along with cooking instructions to local people.

Did you collaborate with other companies to make that soup, or did you do it all in-house?

We developed the flavor ourselves, but left the manufacturing to the manufacturer.

One of the core elements that sets Ichiran apart from other restaurants is the booth where customers can enjoy their food alone without distraction. You described the experience in detail earlier. What is the history behind this unique dining experience?

There are several episodes in the development of Ichiran's flavor-intensive counter. When president Yoshitomi was in his first year of college, his father was diagnosed with cancer and he had to take a part-time job to pay his tuition. He worked at a restaurant that served ramen noodles, but the restaurant's master was a gambler. For example, he would sometimes go to play pachinko during the day and just disappear. One time, a regular customer came in and Mr. Yoshitomi decided to make ramen, but he served it without telling the customer that it was Mr. Yoshitomi who made the ramen, not the master, and the customer did not say anything. The next time the same customer came, he saw Mr. Yoshitomi cooking the ramen and knew that it was not cooked by the master. He said that although it was the same bowl of ramen that Mr. Yoshitomi had previously served, the taste was not on the same level as the master's and he still needed to improve his skills. For the third time, Mr. Yoshitomi made the ramen and told the customers that it was made by the master. The customers were then pleased with the taste. Thanks to this experience, Yoshitomi realized that by removing this element of human bias from his cooking, the customers could focus more on the food itself.

Another time, when he was in college, he saw a classmate eating his lunch. She covered her mouth because she was embarrassed to be seen by others eating. In fact, a survey shows that many women feel embarrassed to go to a ramen restaurant alone. Many also believe that it is embarrassing for women to ask for another bowl of ramen, and by placing the plate on the button and sounding the melody of the charmera, they can immediately inform the waiter of their intention to have another bowl without having to say it.

Based on these experiences and lessons learned from customers, this counter concept was developed to create an exclusive space for customers. Customers can avoid the eyes of other customers when eating, can concentrate on the taste without thinking about who prepared the food, and can customize their orders and request refills using nonverbal communication. All of these things are unique and are the attraction and selling point of dining at Ichiran.

Ichiran has a strong presence not only throughout Japan, but also overseas as you mentioned earlier. You have established a subsidiary, ICHIRAN USA, in New York. What do you hope to achieve by expanding into the U.S., and do you intend to continue your overseas expansion by opening restaurants not only in the U.S. but also in other countries?

The reason for opening a store in New York is that New York is a global information hub and a source of trends emanating from New York. We also received requests from Ichiran fans to open a store in the city. Our basic objective is to provide high quality ramen that tastes the same and offers the same experience anywhere in the world. Our strategy for the U.S. market is not only to open more stores, but also to expand e-commerce and increase sales of home ramen kits. While our restaurant openings are concentrated on the East Coast, we hope to cover the entire United States through e-commerce.

If we were to return for another interview on the 75th anniversary of the company's founding in 2035, can you predict what the company would look like by then?

Ichiran's focus is not on quantitative expansion. It is not about short-term profitability or numerical expansion. Rather, our focus is on maintaining and branding our high-quality, delicious flavors. To achieve this, it is important to expand our human network and human capacity. When you come back to interview us in the future, I would like to tell you that the number of people who support Ichiran and become Ichiran fans is increasing rapidly. I would also like to say that we have a large network of happy and caring employees.

For more information, visit their website at: https://en.ichiran.com/index.php