Learning Recipe!

Needless to say, the most important factors to lead new Ramen shop a success is whether it can offer good ramen or not. So the key is the recipe! And this is the most difficult to acquire, actually.

1.Buying the recipe from a shop master who is willing to sell.

This seems to be the idea which might come up to future ramen shop owners' mind. Actually I have recieived this kind of requests. But, the reality is that not so many shop owners are willng to sell their recipes. And another problem is that most of ramen shop owners cannot communicate in English. But like anything else, there is an exception. Ooishiya in Sagamihara city, Kanagawa is the shop! The owner of this ramen shop is explicitly inviting those who would like to learn its recipe for a fee. Since Ooishiya is offering Kumamoto ramen (Ajisen is in this category), I am not sure whether it matches your favorite or not. But Ooishiya’s advantage is that the shop master is able to communicate in English. If you are interested, please contact the shop directly. Ooishiya Address: 1-1-1 Kanumadai, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa, Japan Tel: 81-42-754-3990

2. Becoming apprenticed to your favorite ramen shops

This is normal procedure to learn recipe of your choice. There are a lot of cases that former employees have set up their own business after training at legendary or spotlighted shops listed in my web site. But there are several problems you will face: First, as you can imagine, it takes, at the shortest, a few months to learn recipe because you need to work as their employee. Second, availability or vacancy of the post. Even if you can clear the difficulties above, without room for new employee on shops’ side, your chance is very small to sneak in. As you can imagine, the more popular the shop, the more applicants are in the waitin list! Finally language is the biggest problem you will face. Keep in mind that you can never expect shop masters to speak English. So what should you do? My advice is to ask for the position to the renowned ramen shop in your country or countries in which you can communicate in their local language. The reviews listed in the World Ramen DB are big help for you to select which shop you should contact.

3. Becoming a franchisee of ramen shop expanding operations (especially to overseas)

Among the three alternatives, this looks most realistic when considering ramen shops outside of Japan, since they can offer established training program to open an ramen restaurant as their franchizee. The problem of this option is that with the uniformed taste of ramen, not so many ramen chains are enjoying good reputations among ramen enthusiasts in Japan. Out of hundreds ramen chains, the following two are still recommendable. (Not sufficient enough to be listed as legendary or spotlighted shops, though!) Mutsumiya It is offering Hokkaido ramen, mainly miso taste. It is quite active in expanding its operation and is said to be planning to open shops in Main land China and US. info@mutsumiya.co.jp Ippudo Ippudo is one of the most famous ramen shop offering Tonkotsu ramen. Also actively expanding its operation. Though it has not come true, it is said to have a wish to open shops overseas. info@chikaranomoto.com

4)Learning from recipe book
Learning from recipe book is the most easy going and least costy. But since I do not think only with the help of recipe written in a sheet of paper, you can successfully reproduce real "Ramen", I would strongly recommend to visit Japan first and taste ramens at first-rated shops or make your Japanese friends try your ramen and ask for their judgement whether your ramen can be regarded as "Real" ramen or not. There is NO recipe book of "Real" ramen written in English. So you need to get books in Japanese and get it translated. But compared with the cost of opening a ramen shop, traslation cost is just a peanut, isn't it? The following books are recommended since they are introducing recipes of renowned ramen shops including ones labeled "Legendary" or "Spotlighted" by World Ramen.net.
	Title: Jibun-de-Tsukuru-Puro-no-Ramen(Professional Ramens cooked by yourself) Publisher: Seibido ISBN: 4415095771
	(Index) Menya Musashi (shoyu) p.6-13 Raimon (shoyu) p.14-23 Shinasobaya (shio) p.24-33 Shinasobaya Kouya (shio) p.34-41 Ishifuku (miso) p.42-51 Kamon (Tonkotsu) p.64-71 Lion (Chashumen) p.72-79 Aji-no-Juban (Tanmen) p.80-87 Takano (Hand-made-noodles) p.88-96 Gyokusen Tei (Sanmamen) p.98-103 Taishoken (Tsukemen) p.104-109 Ramen Isshoku (Hiyashi Chuuka) p.110- 115 Wakagi (Tantanmen) p.116-121
	Title: Jibun-de-Tsukuru-Puro-no-Ramen2(Professional Ramens cooked by yourself 2) Publisher: Seibido ISBN: 4415096905
	Shinasobaya (shoyu) p.6-15 Gen (shio) p.16-25 Takaga (miso) p.26-31 Edogawa Ramen Kadokyu (Tonkotsu Shoyu) p.32-37 Hakodateya (shio) p.56-63 Kiichi (Wakayama Ramen) p.64-71 Udatsu Shokudo (Kokushima Ramen) p.72-77 RaiRaiKen (Champon) p.78-83 Kichinro (Sanmamen) p.94-101 Menbotei (Original) p.102-109

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