Marugame Udon, the world-renowned Japanese noodle hotspot, has opened its first Canadian location in Vancouver with plans to grow the brand across the country.
“We are thrilled to introduce Marugame Udon to the vibrant city of Vancouver. Our goal is to foster cultural exchange through the rich and authentic flavours of Sanuki-style udon and tempura, offering a truly unique culinary experience” said Victor Hisao Misawa, President, and General Manager, Marugame Udon International.
The first location has opened at 589 Beatty Street in downtown Vancouver.
“At Marugame Udon, customers can expect to indulge in delicious handcrafted udon noodles served daily in a lively dining atmosphere. With a dedication to freshness, the experienced and passionate kitchen teams in over 1,000 restaurants worldwide take pride in creating culinary excellence every day. Marugame’s dishes are expertly prepared in a theatre-style kitchen, allowing guests to observe the craftsmanship behind each meal. The hallmark of Marugame’s cuisine lies in its made-to-order udon noodles, guaranteeing an unforgettable and authentic Japanese dining experience for all patrons,” said the company.
Toridoll Holdings, which has developed a chain of restaurants in various dining categories, operates the Marugame Udon brand which was founded in Kakogawa City, Japan in 2000 and is the world’s most successful udon concept with more than 1,000 locations worldwide. About 850 restaurants are in Japan.
The Vancouver location is the brand’s 263rd restaurant outside Japan.
Marugame Canada is currently seeking franchise partners in collaboration with the national expansion.
Misawa said the restaurant had a soft opening for three weeks before its grand opening on March 15.
He said the area of Japan where the brand began has many tiny udon noodle restaurants.
“Many, many people line up there,” said Misawa. “They make the noodles really fresh and then you eat it with tempura. What’s unique about those little restaurants, they’re literally a little workshop set up at the back of a house kind of thing. And people just line up. They have this sort of open kitchen.”
The first restaurant that opened for the brand emulated those little restaurants.
“It was instantly very successful,” he said. “Marugame is one of the towns from that region and that region specifically because of the type of wheat you can get in that area and the water renders a very chewy style of noodle. There are very, very many different types of noodles in Japan like there are in China and the rest of Asia. And this particular one is a chewier style.
“It started in 2000 and then expanded very fast.
“Vancouver for us is extremely strategic. We want to get into Canada. The West Coast is much better than going to the East Coast from a supply chain perspective. There’s also a very large Asian and East Asian community here and because udon is not like ramen or like sushi which are well-known, well-established Japanese cuisines, it’s slightly different and more established in the Asian, East Asian community . . . The food is much better known in that community. It’s important for us as we expand to the West to start off with that type of community where we can really get the following and slowly spread as we go and Vancouver because of its population is a very, very good space for us to start.”
He said the company’s North American strategy is based on the West Coast because it tends to have larger Asian communities so it’s a much more logical place to start.
The first overseas location was in Hawaii which is the top-selling store globally. In the U.S., there are 11 locations with another about six to open this year.
“I think we’re of the order of 25 to 30 (in Canada). The response has been so strong here and the more and more we spend time looking here we think just in Vancouver itself can probably handle five or more stores. So we’re looking at 25 to 30 overall,” added Misawa.
“Obviously a soft opening of a store is relatively not indicative and we’re only at the beginning of the honeymoon period but our sales in this store (Vancouver) in particular is easily in our top five of the global ranking. This store is actually beating Japan stores by far and doing extremely well.”
