Vivinavi : San Francisco : (United States) San Francisco

～ Cultivating Japanese food that can only be found here. The challenge of creating a new food culture. ～

Today we are in a very advantageous position in the American food business industry.
Nowadays, Japanese food has become a more popular genre than Chinese food, especially ramen, which has probably penetrated the American food scene.

It is just as "shabushabu" once permeated the U.S. Fifteen years ago, people in the U.S. would say, "Why do I have to cook it myself ？? Now, however, gathering around the nabe by ourselves has become a pervasive part of the enjoyment. I think this is one example of how Japanese food culture has taken root in America over the past 15 years. Like shabu-shabu, ramen has been able to come to a position where it is attracting attention.
There is still room for our business to develop even further than it is now.

The potential of the business is also shown in the way each staff member works: if you become a manager of a ramen restaurant at EK Food Service, you could earn as much as 10 million yen a year. If you are a server and provide good customer service, that is enough to support your family. We want to create an environment where people who are serious about what they do can earn enough salary and position to have no worries about their future. And I feel we have come as far as we can. On the other hand, we believe it is important not to be complacent about the lucrative position we now feel and the success we have achieved. We may have just happened to be established in the U.S. a little earlier than other Japanese food companies. We are not satisfied with the status quo and are always trying to continue planting seeds for the future. Of course we want to grow our existing ramen business, but we also want to develop it in a way that is uniquely American, not simply as Japanese ramen or udon. For example, Japanese sushi has become California rolls. There are many examples in Japan as well, such as Western food and shina soba, that have developed in their own unique way. In this way, we want to create food that people will eat for 20 or 30 years, and that will evolve while becoming familiar with American food culture. Let's make this a restaurant that children two or three generations down the road will be able to eat.