International Japanese ramen chain Ajisen Ramen eyeing big expansion in New Zealand

Popular international Japanese ramen chain, Ajisen Ramen, plans to open 12 restaurants in New Zealand in the next five years.

The first Ajisen Ramen opened on Kingdon St in Newmarket in 2019 and the second in Takapuna last year.

Ramen Eatery Limited, which holds the franchise and retail rights to operate Ajisen Ramen in New Zealand, is currently in talks with potential franchisees.

At least five of the new restaurants will be across the Auckland region while others are planned for Rotorua, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown.

The chain’s international chief director Osamu Honda, who flew in from its Kumamoto, Japan headquarters, announced the expansion plans when he visited the Newmarket store last week.

Ajisen Ramen was founded in 1968 in Kumamoto, Japan and the chain today has more than 750 stores worldwide, including Australia, the USA, Canada, Italy, Singapore, China, Philippines and Japan.

Honda said Ajisen Ramen has proven very successful across the Tasman since it opened in the early 2000s, and New Zealand had always been part of its growth plan.

“After we opened in Newmarket, the plan was to get a few more stores up and running but the Covid-19 pandemic did slow us down a bit,” said Honda.

“But now that the pandemic is over, we feel the time is right to get our expansion plans in New Zealand going.”

Honda said the easing of border restrictions and the lifting of business sentiment after the elections also played a part.

Honda said from the successful operations of the first two stores and observations of other ramen businesses here “it was clear that Kiwis love ramen”.

He would not say how much the revenue was or discuss financials, but said the two Auckland stores were performing better than many overseas including Asia.

Honda believed Ajisen had the potential to grow to become the biggest ramen chain in New Zealand.

“Looking at how popular ramen is becoming here and how many other ramen shops have opened recently, I think ramen will become one of New Zealand’s most popular fast food just like sushi,” Honda said.

“When that happens, our plan is for Ajisen Ramen to be the biggest brand and to become an institution in New Zealand.”

It is estimated that each store would need between 20 to 25 staff and so potentially, close to 300 new jobs would be created.

Tomoyoshi Kunitake, Ajisen’s international department manager who will be shuttling between Japan and New Zealand to oversee the expansion said interviews have already begun to find potential franchise partners and key restaurant staff.

The chain first started as an eight-seat eatery in Kumamoto 55 years ago and started expanding internationally in 1994 to Taiwan, China and Hong Kong and expanded the menu from just ramen soups to cater to a wider clientele.

It specializes in Kumamoto-style tonkotsu pork bone broth and a “secret recipe” roast garlic and onion flavouring, and makes its own wheat flour noodles at the chain’s flagship store in Newmarket.

“In New Zealand we have created some ramen that are just for this country and available nowhere else in the world, like the kaiju ramen and the volcano mazesoba,” Kunitake said.

“We have found Kiwis to be very adventurous with food experiences and open to trying new flavours, which is why we place a high priority that there is always something unique and different to the standard ramen offerings here.”

Besides ramen, Ajisen also serves a range of donburi rice bowls, gyoza dumplings and Japanese side dishes.

Last month, South Korean fried chicken chain NeNe Chicken opened its first restaurant on Lorne St in central Auckland and also announced plans to open 17 more stores, creating 275 jobs.

ST Group, which holds the franchise here said it would invest an initial $15 million to launch NeNe Chicken and the chain is forecast to generate $75m in revenue over the next five years.

NeNe Chicken general manager Marcus Teh said the group was looking to establish stores in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Christchurch.