This report analyses the Japanese market.
My name is Ohba from the Yamato Foods Laboratory.
In this issue, I would like to offer some advice on how to learn about noodles and how to choose a noodle school.
In recent years, many ramen schools have been established not only in Japan but also abroad. This is a very welcome sign that Japanese ramen culture is making inroads throughout the world. However, I believe that everyone has his or her own criteria for choosing a school, so as long as you can learn well and become a successful noodle store owner, you don’t have to stick to our school.
So, I would like to tell you some points that you should keep in mind. I would like to share with you some points that you should keep in mind.
First of all, the following points are absolutely necessary.
・Be trustworthy.
・You must be able to complete a delicious noodle dish.
I am sure you will all do a lot of research before enrolling, but at the very least, you need to be able to trust that you want to be taught by this teacher. It can be charisma or persuasiveness. There are many criteria, but you have to do your research thoroughly.
Also, of course, they must be able to teach you how to make delicious noodle dishes. There are many famous restaurants among the school’s graduates, or the owner of a famous restaurant can teach you. Those schools that are confident in their ability to hold such schools are open about their information, so you may want to take a closer look at their websites.
Noodle Shop Management and Management: Taste is Not Enough
The next point is a little more difficult.
The purpose of schooling is not to teach you “recipes for delicious noodle dishes.” This is because no matter how good the recipe is for good noodles or good soup or broth, it will not necessarily be accepted by your intended community or customers.
For example, suppose a person who has lived in Hakata for many years thinks, “I want to share the deliciousness of call-back ramen with my old hometown!” He wants to share the delicious taste of yobitori ramen with his old hometown. The yobidashi ramen has a matured taste like a secret sauce, but it has a very strong smell of pork bones. If you serve ramen with the same strong smell in other areas, there is a high possibility that it will not be accepted. In Hakata, it is sometimes said that “if it doesn’t smell like pork bone ramen, it isn’t pork bone ramen,” but of course, there are ramen that don’t smell like pork bone in Hakata, and some people prefer ramen that doesn’t smell like pork bone.
So what should we do?
You can make ramen that is not smelly while maintaining the same delicious taste. The only way to do this is through trial and error.
In other words, it is not enough to just ask for a recipe. There are endless questions about why the soup is the way it is, how to adjust the flavor, and how to make the noodles the way you want them.
Also, with the passage of time and changes in the region, the customers may change. Perhaps cold ramen will become the mainstream. The only way is to keep trying and experimenting.
To be able to make noodle dishes at will” is the purpose of learning at the school. Adjustment of taste is also not possible without a proper understanding of taste. If you do not understand the relationship between the intensity of the flavor of the soup and broth and the size of the noodles, you will end up with an unbalanced dish in which only the soup tastes good and only the noodles taste good.
It is also important to be reproducible, so that once a recipe is created, it will taste the same every time, no matter who makes it. If a restaurant is hit or miss, customers will slowly drift away.
Finally, there is a point that is most important when opening a noodle store, but that few people think about that deeply.
It is the management of the noodle store. The days when customers would come as long as the food tasted good are long gone. Good taste is the minimum requirement.
There are a number of conditions that must be adhered to in the store selection process. For example, the number of seats and parking. A location with only 10 seats at the counter is impossible unless the conditions are very favorable. Even in front of a station, the number of customers will completely change just by crossing a main road. In the suburbs, the number of required parking spaces will increase.
A business plan must be prepared with this information in mind. When you do the math, it is not uncommon to find that the business was operating at a loss to begin with.
A school that takes the success of its students seriously” is an absolutely essential point in the selection process.
We want the noodle industry to grow. We welcome development where we are not involved. Unfortunately, however, 42-43% of the nation’s noodle stores close within a year and 71-73% within three years.
I ask all of you who are about to visit the noodle industry.
To avoid wasting your precious life time, please do your research and think carefully before opening a restaurant so that you will never fail.
I sincerely wish you all the best for your development and prosperity.