People who love both eating and making ramen. People who have a strong desire to have people eat delicious food. People who have the stamina and energy to work long hours.

The owner of a ramen restaurant is responsible for serving ramen to customers. The basis of his/her job is to take the customer's order and make the ramen. In a privately owned store that serves ramen with the flavor created by the owner, the most important job of the owner is the preparation of the soup, which is the key to the flavor of the ramen. It is also the owner's job to decide which suppliers to purchase the ingredients from. If the cost of ingredients is high, profits will be low. The important role of the owner, who is also the manager, is to keep the cost of materials low so that the restaurant can make a profit. Incidentally, in the case of franchise chains with unified restaurant names and menus, the soup and noodles made by the franchise headquarters are often distributed to each restaurant. The important job of the owner of a franchise restaurant is to order the necessary amount of soup and noodles from the headquarters based on projected sales, and to maintain the chain's taste that customers have come to expect.
While there are some areas in which the owner's job differs between a privately owned restaurant and a franchise restaurant, there are many areas that are the same. One of these is money management. Before opening, he prepares change for the cash register, and after closing, he calculates sales. They must record them in a ledger book or on a computer, and then pay the costs of materials, utilities, and salaries of employees and part-time workers. The owner is also responsible for hiring, supervising, and managing the employees and part-time workers. It is also important for the owner to make the restaurant comfortable not only for customers, but also for employees and part-timers. In such a restaurant, the owner may receive comments from customers that the food was delicious, or employees and part-timers who have worked there for many years may say, "I want to own a restaurant myself. That is when a ramen store owner feels a sense of fulfillment.

There are three main paths to becoming a ramen store owner: The first is the "self-taught" path, in which one learns how to make ramen, develop soup, and manage a ramen store by oneself. The second is the "training" path, in which one learns how to cook and run a ramen store while working as an employee or part-timer at a famous ramen store. If the owner of a ramen restaurant recognizes the work of the trainee, the owner may allow the trainee to open a restaurant with the same name, or "split the goodwill" between the two. There is also the path of opening an independent business, utilizing the skills and knowledge gained through training. On the other hand, there are also "ramen schools" where students can learn how to make and manage ramen in a few days to a few weeks, without having to spend years in training. The third is to work for a franchise chain. A franchise is a contract in which the person or company that joins pays a royalty fee to the head office that operates the franchise and is allowed to use the restaurant name and management methods. There are two ways to become a franchisee: as an "owner-operator," you are the owner of the store, or as an "employee" of the owner-operated store, you are a "yatawarere owner. Chain restaurants are not suitable for those who aim for a unique taste, as they are required to provide a uniform taste. Think carefully about the ramen restaurant you are aiming for and choose the path that will bring you closer to that goal.

When actually opening a ramen restaurant, several permits and qualifications are required. It is often thought that a "chef's license," a national qualification, is required, but in fact, ramen stores and other restaurants can be operated without a chef's license. To operate a restaurant, a "restaurant business license" and a "food sanitation supervisor" are required. The restaurant business license is applied for at the public health center, and the facilities of the restaurant are examined. A food sanitation supervisor is required for any business that handles food products, and is responsible for the self-management of sanitation in the restaurant. This qualification can be obtained by attending a training session held by a prefectural food hygiene association. Incidentally, a person with a chef's license can become a food sanitation supervisor without taking a course. If you operate a restaurant with 30 or more employees, you must also be qualified as a "fire prevention manager. This qualification can also be obtained by taking a course.

Ramen is so popular among many generations that it has been called "national food. Ramen stores can be found all over the country, and new stores are springing up all the time. However, competition among ramen stores is so fierce that it is said that "more than half of the stores close within a year of opening" and only a few can continue for more than five years. The reason why so many new stores are opening is because many people believe in the taste of their ramen and dream of becoming a popular store. The only way to realize this dream is to create ramen that customers want to eat. Such ramen is also popular among foreigners, and there are major ramen chains that have opened many restaurants abroad. It is not an unattainable dream to have one's ramen eaten by customers all over the world.

The average annual income is 3.05 to 3.3 million yen, depending on the restaurant's sales. If the restaurant becomes popular enough to draw lines, annual income of 10 million yen or more can be expected.

Varies from store to store, but most have one day off per week. Busy weekends are not always available.

Ramen restaurant. The main work is making ramen in the kitchen and preparing the ramen. They also serve customers by carrying the finished ramen from the kitchen to the customers' tables.

It's a chart that shows at a glance the main routes to getting a job as a ramen store owner!