2024 was a tough 12 months for ramen eating places in Japan, as analysis agency Teikoku Databank discovered 79 ramen restaurant bankruptcies in its annual research of the business, essentially the most ever since its first iteration in 2010. 2024 wasn’t an remoted case, both, because it marked the third 12 months in a row of accelerating bankruptcies.
Things are lastly wanting higher, although, as Teikoku has simply launched the outcomes of its 2025 research, during which ramen restaurant bankruptcies fell by 25.3 p.c, to 59.
For the research, Teikoku Database counted ramen eating places that had money owed exceeding 10 million yen and had filed for chapter proceedings.
Analysts level to rising prices as the rationale for the big variety of bankruptcies in recent times. Teikoku prepares an annual ramen value index, calculated because the Tokyo-area common costs for the components in a typical bowl of tonkotsu ramen: wheat for the noodles, pork bone for the broth stock, and toppings of greens and sliced pork. Since 2020, that whole worth has risen by 41 p.c, Teikoku says.
Though ramen restaurant bankruptcies fell from 54 instances in 2020 to only 17 in 2021, when pandemic-period authorities help was propping up many eateries, they rose to 33 in 2022 after which 53 in 2023 earlier than hitting their peak of 79 in 2024. So whereas 59 bankruptcies in 2025 stays a major quantity, it’s nonetheless encouraging to see the primary lower in 4 years.
Image: Pakutaso
Teikoku credit the diminished bankruptcies to a mix of things, together with developments reminiscent of brothless ramen that requires fewer components and operational adjustments reminiscent of cashless cost techniques and utilization of centralized kitchens offering semi-finished merchandise to particular person eating places, permitting for smaller staffs and decrease overhead prices. Teikoku says there’s additionally been a shift away from attempting to succeed by high-volume gross sales and in the direction of attempting to extend per-customer income, typically by providing extra premium-style ramen or just elevating menu costs, with the latter being one thing that Teikoku says there’s rising acceptance of amongst ramen restaurant diners.
However, this doesn’t imply that operating a ramen restaurant is now a simple path to monetary success. While 2025’s 59 bankruptcies is a lower in comparison with 2024, it’s nonetheless the second-highest quantity since 2010, and costs for components haven’t come down, so these value pressures are nonetheless there for restaurant operators. It’s additionally price taking into account that Teikoku’s research is simply involved with bankruptcies particularly. So if, for instance, the homeowners of a ramen restaurant determine to close their enterprise down after being compelled to empty their financial savings to cowl their money owed, they’re nonetheless in a really dangerous place financially, however not counted as one of many 12 months’s bankruptcies in Teikoku’s research. There’s additionally the query of how viable elevating menu costs is as a long-term technique, because it runs the danger of undoing ramen’s long-held picture as a tasty however inexpensive eating choice, and in flip eroding its fanbase, particularly amongst youthful diners.
That stated, fewer bankruptcies, in and of itself, is an effective factor, and Teikoku says there’s an opportunity that the quantity will fall even decrease in 2026 as massive restaurant teams, chains, and funding funds look to accumulate or merge with small/medium-scale ramen eating places dealing with monetary difficulties or missing a successor to take over from homeowners trying to retire.
Source: Teikoku Database through FNN Prime Online through Livedoor News through Hachima Kiko
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