{"id":78635,"date":"2026-08-22T18:12:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T10:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=78635"},"modified":"2026-08-22T18:12:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T10:12:59","slug":"is-japans-marugame-udon-biting-off-more-than-it-can-chew-with-us-noodle-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=78635","title":{"rendered":"Is Japan\u2019s Marugame Udon biting off more than it can chew with US noodle push?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Toridoll founder and CEO Takaya Awata went from college dropout to billionaire, selling bowls of chewy udon noodles across Japan primarily through his company\u2019s flagship Marugame Udon brand. Now, he is betting the humble dish can become a global fast-food category alongside burgers, chicken and pizza, with the US at the centre of his restaurant company\u2019s overseas ambitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want udon to become one of those major global categories,\u201d says Awata, 64, at Toridoll\u2019s headquarters in Tokyo. He wants the company, with almost \u00a5280 billion (US$1.8 billion) in annual revenue, to join the trillion-yen ranks of the world\u2019s largest fast-food chains, primarily by growing Marugame Udon.<\/p>\n

The challenge is scaling up the business and finding a way to win over consumers who are unfamiliar with a staple of no-frills Japanese cuisine. Unlike the better-known, thinner and yellowish ramen noodles typically served up in a seasoned bouillon, udon are thick, chewy white noodles that swim in a much simpler broth.<\/p>\n

Toridoll already has Marugame outlets in several countries, including Canada and the UK, and a beachhead in the US with a couple of dozen locations on the West Coast. All told, Toridoll operates almost 2,100 restaurants, more than 40 per cent of which are outside Japan.<\/p>\n

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Takaya Awata, president and CEO of Toridoll, which operates the Marugame Udon brand of restaurants, believes he will succeed where other Japanese brands have failed: competing with the US fast-food sector.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Other fast-food purveyors based in Japan have tried to crack the lucrative American market, but have faced significant obstacles. Casual chic rice-burger chain MOS Burger tried and failed, as did ramen noodle chain Dosanko. Beef bowl vendor Yoshinoya, which first came to the US in 1975, radically downsized in the early 1980s before rebuilding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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