Japanese restaurants food companies switching to noodles from rice

As cost-sensitive consumers are steering clear of rice after a price surge to record highs, restaurant chains and food companies are turning to noodles.

Antworks, operator of Densetsu no Sutadonya eateries offering pork rice bowls, opened its first ramen noodle restaurant in Tokyo in May and plans another three by next February to diversify its operations.

“We have touted our (pork bowl) business as a large portion of our business portfolio, but rice prices are now more than three times higher than those several years ago,” a spokesperson at the Tokyo-based restaurant chain operator said.

A pork rice bowl set meal with miso soup and raw egg is now priced at 890 yen (S$7.80),compared with 630 yen in 2021. The spokesperson said consumers would likely stay away if the price were raised to more than 1,000 yen.

“The outlook for our business would be more severe if we were just focusing on (pork) bowls,” the official said, adding that the cost of a ramen noodle dish is 100 yen to 150 yen cheaper than a pork bowl.

Yoshinoya Holdings, the parent of major beef bowl restaurant operator Yoshinoya, is also strengthening its ramen noodle business, as it views the beef bowl restaurant market in Japan as saturated.

Yoshinoya Holdings Executive vice-president Norihiro Ozawa says its ramen noodle business allows the company to “balance” ingredient costs with offerings aside from rice and meat.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, rice prices have doubled from 2024 and remain around a spike initially triggered by a poor harvest.

The average price stood at 4,176 yen per 5kg in the week through June 8, despite releases from the government’s rice stockpiles.

At supermarkets, consumers are looking for alternatives to rice.

According to TableMark, sales of its frozen udon noodles grew