We have received attentions since we achieved the first record of 4,041 cups in the first Tokyo Ramen Show in May 2009. The ramen of rich soy sauce of black soup originally served by several shops in Toyama city had been named as “Toyama black” among the mass communication. Since then, the local ramen of Toyama black has been known all over the country. “Fully adding Toyama’s natural blessings to our traditional technique that I have gained by perfectly learning about ramen. In addition, I also stick to ingredients and preparations. Our soup with a traditional fish soy source is tasty until the last drop.”

I have received offers from China, Singapore, and Los Angeles since 6 years ago and we opened shops for limited time. At that time, our structure for overseas expansion was not in place, and some issues and problems occurred, but due to limited time, the problem solving experienced at that time became our current know-how. Our overseas franchise development started three years ago in Hong Kong. We received an offer and our franchise deployment has started. Competition in the Japan market is intense, and I think it is difficult to expand shops from now on. Compared to that, we are pleased that overseas markets are gratefully accepted and we still have a lot of offers under good conditions, so we will focus on overseas franchising.

We always focus on communications anyway. We have contracted with our partner after building a trusting relationship with each other. Unlike ordinary franchise packages, partners have a high degree of freedom and can be customized by country. Since raw materials are also procured locally, there is no problem of logistics. Our current style is offering our secret sauce only. This sauce is sent by ship for half a year stock, so it can be delivered at a reasonable cost. Regarding ramen noodles, there are areas where the distribution is difficult, in that case, we suggest to purchase a noodle making machine and teach how to make homemade noodles. We use for example wheat flour etc. which can be procured locally. We are not stick to only black ramen but customize the soup according to the market of each country. I am checking the final taste. The most important point is the style of franchising the know-how of [Japanese handmade ramen].

We have plans in USA where I advanced six years ago and in Europe where there are many offers coming. Regarding Greece, it has been decided to open a shop at the beginning of the next. Currently there are 7 directly managed shops in Japan and 13 overseas FC shops, but we are aiming for 100 shops in 2020 of the Olympic year. As overseas offers are increasing year by year, I think that it may be larger than our estimation. I want to spread the brand of black ramen in a wide market. When looking at the increasing number of offers every year, we find there are many candidate partners in the world who want to have the know-how of Japanese handmade ramen rather than franchising packages, so I would like to put more effort into it.