This report analyses the Japanese market.
| Heisei era | Western calendar year | Overall food service | Udon noodle market size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scale (million) | Transition | Scale (million) | Share (%) | Transition | ||
| H9 | 1997 | 290,702 | 100% | 10,856 | 3.73% | 100% |
| H10 | 1998 | 284,961 | 98.03% | 11,099 | 3.89% | 102.24% |
| H11 | 1999 | 273,880 | 94.21% | 10,746 | 3.92% | 98.99% |
| H12 | 2000 | 269,925 | 92.85% | 11,089 | 4.11% | 102.15% |
| H13 | 2001 | 258,545 | 88.94% | 10,950 | 4.24% | 100.87% |
| H14 | 2002 | 254,484 | 87.54% | 11,111 | 4.37% | 102.35% |
| H15 | 2003 | 245,684 | 84.51% | 10,710 | 4.36% | 98.66% |
| H16 | 2004 | 244,825 | 84.22% | 10,642 | 4.35% | 98.03% |
| H17 | 2005 | 243,903 | 83.90% | 10,657 | 4.37% | 98.17% |
| H18 | 2006 | 245,523 | 84.46% | 10,633 | 4.33% | 97.95% |
| H19 | 2007 | 245,908 | 84.59% | 10,834 | 4.41% | 99.80% |
| H20 | 2008 | 245,068 | 84.30% | 10,720 | 4.37% | 98.75% |
| H21 | 2009 | 236,599 | 81.39% | 10,667 | 4.51% | 98.26% |
| H22 | 2010 | 234,887 | 80.80% | 10,785 | 4.59% | 99.35% |
| H23 | 2011 | 228,282 | 78.53% | 10,637 | 4.66% | 97.98% |
| H24 | 2012 | 232,217 | 79.88% | 10,717 | 4.62% | 98.72% |
| H25 | 2013 | 240,099 | 82.59% | 11,506 | 4.79% | 105.99% |
| H26 | 2014 | 246,148 | 84.67% | 11,696 | 4.75% | 107.74% |
| H27 | 2015 | 254,006 | 87.38% | 12,373 | 4.87% | 113.97% |
| H28 | 2016 | 254,169 | 87.43% | 12,397 | 4.88% | 114.19% |
This means that on the one hand, some shops continue to grow in market size and sales, while on the other hand, the number of shops continues to decline significantly. Some strong shops are getting stronger and stronger, while many other weak shops are dying in large numbers.
In short, the current udon and soba shop market is a survival market of the weak and the strong.
However, the udon and soba shop market is a promising market that continues to expand and is the only growth market in the food service market, and one that has great potential going forward with the ageing of the population.
In fact, the above chart shows that the more recessions such as the Lehman Shock and negative events such as consumption tax increases, the more the market size of udon and soba grows.
In other words, the udon and soba market is a recession-proof industry.
So why has this polarisation occurred, with some shops making a profit and others not making a profit and going out of business?