2nd branch for 99 RAMEN was open yesterday at Food Court, Gaisano Country Mall. We will open it at Parkmall soon and the number of branches for 99 RAMEN will be 3. Today, I would like to report our new branch and explain our marketing strategy for both Ikkousha and 99 RAMEN.
Gaisano Country Mall is located between JY Square and J Centre Mall. Thinking about our logistic efficiency, we really like where it is. The business model of 99 RAMEN is that we cook the soup and noodles in JY and deliver to anywhere.
The another reason of choosing Gaisano Country Mall(GCM) is about UC Banilad Campus. Every time we visit GCM, we can see many UC students with wearing their uniforms. They will be matured soon and getting our main customers soon.
They are now studying but after school, so many students visit here and enjoy food. 99 pesos is a bit pricey for students but they can enjoy it once a week. And after they get jobs, they will be our loyal customers.
One of our neighbors is Turks which is one of the most successful franchise chains in the Philippines. When I visited here at the first time for researching, Turks was already here and doing very well. The whole Food Court place looks shabby but it has a potential.
We have two sophisticated kiosks here and they are brightening… We had a good start yesterday and I have a confidence that we will expand more kiosk type shops in Cebu(Hopefully in the future all over the Philippines.)
The photo shows Shio Tonkotsu with Ajitama.(110 pesos, 99 + 11) Surprisingly, the taste is better than Ikkousha’s Shio Tonkotsu. It is a magic of cooking and keeping in fridge. Especially, about Shio Tonkotsu, I feel the taste gets better because of our cooking process.
Garlic Black(99 pesos)! um… I want to lose my weight but I couldnt stop eating another one. This is one of my favorite for 99 RAMEN. Very very yummy! It was completely Japanese quality.
I start writing about our marketing strategy for Ikkousha and 99 RAMEN. This is kinda secret so I wanted to start after writing about Gaisano Country Mall. It means that only readers who finish first half articles can read this.
Ikkousha brand is getting No.1 as Ramen brand here in Cebu. About managing restaurant business, the simple important thing is that we should provide very yummy food. Do you know more important one? Yes, it is that we should provide not only yummy food but also authentic(not preserved) and healthy food.
There is a huge gap between us and other competitors which do not cook their soup from pork bones. Some of ramen restaurants just use powder or liquid preserved Tonkotsu soup for their ramen. How can you know? Please taste our broth for both Ikkousha and 99 RAMEN and feel the taste of pork bones. We are 100% different from other ramen restaurants and our taste is authentic and the both is much much healthier than ones by our competitors because they use a lot of Ajinomoto which is called MSG.
The reason why we provide our authentic ramen only in 99 pesos is about Economics, demand and supply.
When we consider the price, we have to go back to our classroom of economics, demand curve. Basically, every time we decrease the price of a product, we can sell more. As management, our mission would be maximizing our profit.
When we started our shop at SUGBO MERCADO, the price was 130 pesos because we prioritized the cost of food first. And then some employees said that 130 would be still expensive for local people. Although our cost of food was still high, it was kinda trial to reduce the price to 99 pesos there.
The demand curve was true. 99 pesos is 24% discounted price of 130 pesos but our sales was more than 130%. In conclusion, our mission was completed that the profit increased.
We still have a controversy argument which brand name we should use Ikkousha or 99 RAMEN. However, the main reason why we do not use Ikkousha for 99 pesos raman is that we should keep the brand image about Ikkousha. In fact, a customers who tried our ramen at SUGBO MERCADO complained about the price. I thought positively it would be the best timing about introducing our second brand, 99 RAMEN.
Ikkousha is still expanding their branches to all over the world and Philippines might be poorest country among all of their international places. Actually, in the developed countries such as US, Australia and Singapore, they do not need to adjust their price and sometimes their price is much higher than the one in Japan. Ramen price, 320 pesos + 10% service charge is really expensive in the Philippines.
We have some secrets how we can provide our ramen in only 99 pesos but I would not tell that this time.
Thanks for reading all.
Hide Fujiki
Managing Director Living in Cebu since 2013. Bachelor of Economics from Osaka University(1993) MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business(2015).
ZEN ENGLISH
T +63.32.236.2027 /
11 Wilson St., Lahug, Cebu City 6000
