Lawson skips a key ramen elements to keep prices down, but are they low enough to justify this tradeoff?

Japanese convenience store Lawson is just about to roll out some new instant cup ramen, and the name itself sounds pretty promising: Soup Gekiuma Ramen. That translates to “Ramen with Amazingly Delicious Broth,” and what’s not to like about that?

Where the potential for dislike comes in, though, is the reason Lawson is trumpeting the effort it’s put into crafting the broth is because both of the two new varieties of Supu Gekiuma Ramen have absolutely no topping whatsoever.

Open up the lid of the Supu Gekiuma Sapporo Miso Ramen, which is labeled in English as the less grandiose-sounding “Miso Ramen,” and you’ll find the packets to mix with hot water to form the broth, dried noodles, and nothing else. No chopped green onion, egg, sliced fish cake, or morsels of mystery meat. It’s noodles and broth only, and the same goes for the Soup Gekiuma Kyoto Backfat Soy-broth Ramen, officially designated “Soy Sauce Ramen with Rich Por Lard” in English.

Lawson says it developed these two new instant ramen offerings in response to Japanese consumers’ recently raised desire to stretch their budgets, as rising prices for all sorts of necessities are occurring at the same time as many workers’ salaries remain stagnant. No toppings means fewer ingredients, and Lawson’s ostensible intent is to pass those savings along to customers who’re feeling the economic pinch these days.

Now, to be fair, the broth for the new topping-less Lawson ramen, looks perfectly fine, and it’s not like instant cup ramen in general is known for its mountains of mouthwatering toppings. That said, cup ramen with zero toppings definitely feels like something is missing to Japanese consumers, and this plainly isn’t the ideal ingredient list. Also not ideal, in many people’s eyes? The price. Despite billing Soup Gekiuma Ramen as being easy on the wallet, both new varieties of the zero-topping ramen are priced at 238 yen (US$1.50), which isn’t particularly cheap by Japanese standards and produced comments for the video above including:

“What? No toppings, and they’re still charging 238 yen for it?”
“Seriously? They’re just screwing with us, aren’t they.”
“238 yen for ramen without toppings isn’t cheap. It’s expensive.”
“Just looking at it makes me feel sad.”
“I was imagining it’s be about 150 yen,”
“I wouldn’t pay more than 100 yen for this stuff.”
“Looking forward to Lawson someday releasing a bento that’s just rice and charging 400 yen for it.”

A number of commenters also pointed out that if you’re willing to bypass conveniently located convenience stores and instead do your shopping at a more out-of-the-way drug store or discount retailer, it’s possible to get instant cup ramen that incudes noodles, broth, and toppings for far less than what Lawson is asking for Soup Gekiuma Ramen.

However, Lawson might know what it’s doing. This is actually the second round of Soup Gekiuma Ramen releases, following the line’s launch last October with no-topping spicy and tonkotsu (pork stock) ramen. The spicy flavor turned out to be a hit, selling 1.5 to 2 times as many units as new Lawson products usually do. With many of the no-topping spicy ramen buyers being people in their 30s and 40s, Lawson is hoping that the less intense new Soup Gekiuma Ramen flavors will be eve more successful with a wider customer base.

It’s possible, though, that the no-topping spicy ramen was able to succeed precisely because of its bolder flavor, which may have helped keep the noodles from feeling lonely without any other non-broth accompaniments. With the new broths likely providing less stimulus for the taste buds, there’s a chance that they’ll accentuate the fact that there aren’t any toppings, and the price Lawson is charging may prove to be too high to feel like an attractive tradeoff, but we won’t know for sure until after the new Soup Gekiuma Ramen varieties go on sale on January 28.

Source: Lawson, Nihon Keizai Shimbun via Golden Times, YouTube/ANNnewsCH
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