The story behind North America’s first frozen ramen kit
In the spring of 2020, everything stopped.
Like restaurants everywhere, Ramen Raijin was forced to close its dining room overnight. We switched to takeout and delivery — because that was the only option.
But something didn’t sit right with me. By the time platform fees and delivery charges are added, the price climbs well above what you’d pay in the restaurant. And what does the customer actually get? Noodles that have been sitting for 30 minutes, broth that has cooled down. As a business, that math didn’t work. As a chef, it was worse than that — we were asking people to pay more for something I wasn’t proud to serve.
A different approach
Instead of delivering a finished bowl — and accepting all the quality loss that comes with it — what if we delivered something that let the customer finish the ramen themselves?
Our kitchen would do 90% of the work: cook the broth from scratch, prepare the toppings, portion everything with care. Then vacuum-seal and flash-freeze it at peak freshness. The customer does the final 10% — just heat it up and eat.
Over 100 test batches
In one month, we made more than 100 test bowls before we were satisfied. Noodle thickness, freeze time, reheating instructions, broth concentration — every variable had to be dialed in. The goal wasn’t “pretty good for frozen ramen.” It was to get as close as possible to what you’d get sitting at our counter.
Priced honestly
Because the customer handles the final step, and because there’s no restaurant atmosphere included, we priced our frozen ramen below our dine-in menu. We weren’t going to charge restaurant prices for something you finish at home.
What started as a way to survive a crisis turned out to fill a genuine need — restaurant-quality ramen, made with care, that you can enjoy on your own schedule. That’s still what we make today.
