Thread 21416392

is this even a viable business model?

I would guess it's viable because there's one I know of that's been doing that shit for about fifteen years now.

instructions in case you need them

>>21416392 (OP)
>$8 for a $1 item
Why? Even the additional toppings are probably marked up 800% or more. That's so insane.

>>21416397
I could see this working where it's the only food option around and you have folks that have to stick around and wait - like a bus station or hospital or courthouse or motor vehicles division...

>>21416392 (OP)
This is so batshit to me when places that serve actual ramen exist

>>21416392 (OP)
cereal places have been doing this and staying in business so i dont see why it wouldnt work for something like this

>>21416392 (OP)
Your ESL post doesn't make any sense, OP. Back to school.

>>21416392 (OP)
Finally, a restaurant with that 90s video store ambiance I've always wanted to eat in.

lol WTF

>>21416417
That's the thing: the place I'm thinking of is downtown with several other places to eat a few doors from it. Difference is, first and foremost, it's a convenience store/deli so I don't think eat-in instanoodles make up the majority of its sales. Also, while I recall the price being $7.99 exactly, just as in the OP, there were no extra charges except spam.
It was served Korean style, with all those extra side dishes. I only got that once and was pissed when this bowl of shin noodles came out until it was followed by a tray of various side dishes. There were at least five because I remember the layout but I only remember three of the sides: kimchi, grilled fish of some sort (a small pilchard or mackerel, I think) and cucumber salad. I don't think there were options for cheese but I do recall, as I said already, being able to get slices of spam for a buck extra, if you wanted. I did not. Fine that way, I think it could work. Done as the place in OP, I see it going the way of Cereality, the cereal chain. $6 for a bowl of cereal? Yeah, nah, fuck you. No wonder it collapsed in on itself.

>>21416392 (OP)

its like 800%+ mark up on the ramens packets lol

>>21416398
>soup noodles
>dry noodles

Noodles are noodles, why make it so confusing?

>>21416392 (OP)
>>21416407
>>21416493
It can't be viable unless it's a tourist town or nothing for miles.

>>21416392 (OP)
These places are banking on the recent wave of Korean culture being popular. They are looking for the K-Pop/K-Drama crowd who have no common sense and will pay out the ass for it because it is Korean. Think weebs but they are normalfags at the same time somehow? Truly disgusting people.

>>21416392 (OP)
>8 dollars for ramen
I'm burning the place down

>>21416407
>Case of top ramen (24 units) is $6
how do people even rationalize this cost?

>>21416392 (OP)
anyone who pays $8 for a pack of ramen you can buy at the grocer for 80 cents deserves to be ripped off anyway

How impersonal and japanese. No wonder there's a thread for it here in incel weeb land.

Still involves leaving the basement though, even if there's no interaction with a server or hostess. Tough call indeed.

>>21417327
I just did a quick run to the supermarket this morning for some milk and Sapporo Ichiban tonkotsu instan00dz were on clearance $1.50 per multipak. I guarantee these instant noodle bars never have clearance deals.

>>21416392 (OP)

Crazy expensive and trying to prey on people with low impulse control.

If you are going to run a place like this, at least have high quality dehydrated ingredients instead of literal supermarket shit.

>>21416442
It would make sense as a 24/7 place in a train station or airport and for 1/3 of the current price.

>>21416398
Don’t tell me how to lift by bowl you fucking spaghetti dispenser

>>21416454
The thing with cereal place is that cereal is cereal, theirs not really a ‘real cereal’ that the sugary hyperprocessed slop is a parody of (muesli I guess, but no one eats that crap).

Ramen is an actual real food that instant ramen is a laughable mockery of. It’s not even that hard for a kitchen to prepare to order. Cereal boutiques are for man-babies, but this is just even worse.

>>21416454
>staying in business
lmao
No they fucking haven't. As another post pointed out, Cereality expanded to a bunch of college campuses then completely collapsed in on itself and only has one or two locations left. I can only think of a single other cereal bar in existence and I'm not even sure it's still in business. It was and continues to be a retarded business model for retarded retards.

>>21417706
How much did they ask for a bowl of Count Chocula?

>>21417711
Like 6 bucks

>>21417719
BuT yOu GeT oNe tOpPiNg iNcLuDeD!*
>* does not include premium toppings
At least the milk is all you can drink** lmao
>** does not include plant-based milks

>payment and ask staff??????
No thanks, I'll decline this step.

>>21416454
>cereal places
>>21417644
>Cereal boutiques

the what now?

>>21418364
it's OP's pic, but swap instance ramen for sugary breakfast cereal

target demographic: 30 year olds

>>21418364
For the third time, Cereality
It's a former chain of cereal bars where you go in, pay more than the price of a box of cereal to just get a single bowl of the stuff + 1 topping. iinm, you can mix two cereals together, as well, so you can do something like get bran flakes and Capn Crunch with a topping of Lucky Charms marshmallows. Other toppings or using more than two cereals will cost extra.

>>21418375
That's the one in London, yeah? Love how they stole the idea from Cereality and actually made it work somehow lmao
They've just the one location, yeah?

>>21418382
not sure, stole the image from an article talking about how they failed a health inspection in 2018. really don't know anything about them other than it's a stupid concept and I needed a representative picture.

>>21418383
Fair enough. The one I'm thinking of in London is/was owned by a pair of weirdly angry looking bearded twins and they were a meme for a bit.

>>21416392 (OP)
>8 bucks per package
>Gree green onion
Wow thank you

>>21418442
I can confirm as least as much as this one was indeed run by some twins with terrible hair

>>21417482
This
I'll excuse the price tag if they have a bunch of cool toppings and every bowl comes with at least 1 free one

Set it up in a college campus, pay some student min wage to babysit, and it could work
>$8 per package
Oh lol never mind

>>21418382
Having a meal without beans or mash is like magic to them, they probably stare at the cereal unable to understand how it works

>>21416392 (OP)
>8 bucks/pack
jesus absolute christ

>>21416392 (OP)
>3 dollars for (fresh) rice
>No soy sauce
>1 dollar for corn
>1 dollar for onion
They expect you to drop 12 bucks on that shit and that's without the beverage for a fucking machine that heats up water, we are no longer bottom of the barrel, bottom of the barrel was a high teenager dropping shit into bread and throwing it into the oven this is the nasty shit that leaked from the barrel and formed a stinky puddle around

>>21416392 (OP)
$8 dollars for carbs?! that's a scam

>>21416392 (OP)
>$8 for 25 cent ramen.
I don't think the people who would eat ramen are going to pay that. I have always underestimated other's stupidity though.

>food at a communal place is more expensive than buying at a grocery store and cooking/eating at home

HOLY FUCK GUYS DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD BUY THE STUFF AT THE GROCERY STORE AND MAKE IT AT HOME FOR CHEAPER?!?!?!
HOW DOES MCDONALDS STAY IN BUISNESS I CAN MAKE A BURGER AT HOME FOR 1/10TH THE PRICE
HOLY SHIT GUYS
GUYS, HOW ARE THEY DOING THIS
HOW ARE THEY SELLING THINGS FOR MORE THAN WHAT IT COSTS AT A STORE?!
OH MY GOD HOW DOES ANYONE BUY THINGS FOR MORE MONEY THAN IT WOULD COST AT A STORE
SOMEONE ALERT REDDIT

>>21418377
I routinely use honey nut cheerios to flavour milk for use with corn flakes because honey nut corn flakes are never sold.

>>21418529
dude i'm going to fuckin blow your mind... you can drizzle honey onto your corn flakes!

>>21418528
relax, retard

>>21416392 (OP)
Why do they have fucking CHEESE but no soy sauce?

>>21417729
imagine even contemplating the consumption of plant-based "milk".

>>21418528
You are very, very stupid. Your parents must be so ashamed.

>>21418528
>all profit margins are the same
Ok retard

>>21418375
IF going there as an adult in the first place then go all the way - the Dora one it is.

Then along came 7-Eleven...

>>21418528
fucking retard do the math, you can unironically get a pack of top ramen for under 25 cents and these cucks are charging several dollars. That's a 3200% markup.

>>21418703
There's no Top Ramen in the OP, Bottom Raymond.

>>21418662
Is there a tamale floating in that ramen?

>>21418375
>>21418377
ah, the concept is completely fucking retarded, but i thought it was something ubiquitous the way you were talking about it.
i understand if it's some weirdo-ass chain

>>21418794
Pork grease immediately improves any ramen a thousand fold, big brain types buy logs of pork breakfast sausage for their ramen needs. I use pic related.

>>21416392 (OP)
the bingbong scam known no bounds

>>21416392 (OP)
>8 bux plus tip for a self serve station and a 0.50 dollar packet of ramen
Oy vey, what a savings!

>>21416392 (OP)
>how water

What color milk, cereal bros?

>>21419318
Put some brown milk into the yellow milk to make the yellow a stained mustard tone

>>21419377
What cereal pairs with stained mustard milk?

>>21419395
Kellogs® Mustard Loops™

8 dollars for ramen is okay?

there's also a Korean version of this type of store

>>21419446
it's popular

>>21419446
>cheese in ramen

>>21419449
good times

>>21419461
>Full crowd for 8 bucks ramen

That's GOT to be AI, right?

>>21419464
the place went viral on tik tok

>>21419476
Wait, the staff doesn't even make it for you? People are honestly paying 4x the store price just to make instant noodles themselves in a shop?

-1 points in humanity.

>>21419460
tried the cheese ramen at a place once
the taste was fine but something about the slimy texture of melted cheese that was also wet made me want to throw up and I couldn't finish it

>>21418375
there was a place there too called cereal killer cafe. the concept looked cool

>>21419490
eating in bed. kek

>>21419490
>>21419491

>>21416392 (OP)
The overpriced additional toppings don't even have chashu or egg as options. Genuinely pathetic.

>>21419464
id pay 8 bucks for ramen, but not instant noodles

>>21419490
>21419491
>21419492
That's the one in London I was talking about in >>21418382
>>21419481
Jesus. At least the place I mentioned in >>21416478 had table service. You order your ramen, they cook it and bring it out then come back with all the sides. I wanna say it comes with egg as a topping free of charge but o don't remember. $8 for that ain't too bad. $8 for >>21416398 is highway robbery.

>>21419446
I wonder if Koreans think they invented dumplings too.

>>21419535
I was of course talking about store bought instant ramen, just like in the OP.
Ramen in itself can be a good meal well worth it.

>>21418662
finally, I can load up my ramen with chili and nacho cheese

>>21419622
kek. they closed their cafes in London and moved to Dubai where folks can still afford overpriced cereal

>>21419464
right now people coming for the novelty aspect are keeping it in business.

>>21418375
are millennials serious?

>>21419464
if you put it on tik tok normal niggers will show up en masse

>>21419697
i've never had instant ramen, but i did go to a proper chinese place that did real ramen and frankly, it was one of the best things i've ever eaten.

the noddles themselves were kinda ok, but the soup and the chicken bites thing were heavenly.
wish i didn't have to take a whole day just to go there

>>21421233
the target audience of the ramen shop and the cereal shop is: dude weed lmao

>>21419491
its about what I expected

>>21419722
Still better than a hot dog and an American slice

>>21419318
I want orange milk no cereal please

>>21419446
This is slightly better

>>21419491
Those people look so ugly

>>21419461
kek. the korean version has more than one location...

>>21416392 (OP)
A place near me has or had this for one day or week or something. Like I think they primarily are a boba tea place and sell other cafe shit but I know they had an ad up for make your own ramen at one point

>>21416392 (OP)
The main lobby of the office building I work in has one of these, but they charge like $4.

>>21417327
If they are imitating the Korean places, then its not just buying a dry packet of ramen; they have hot water on tap, a microwave, kimchi, sliced onions, cheese, a whole bunch of other stuff. Its not like you're just buying a packet of Maruchan and eating it dry, out of the packet.

>>21419446
1 ramyum and 20 steamed eggs thanks

>>21421498
>not larping as a nerfherder

>>21418375
The one we had closed down after 3 months, good fucking riddance.

>>21416392 (OP)
>7.99 any pack of .25c ramen
>is this even a viable business model?
no, unfortunately it is over. prepare

>>21416392 (OP)
for $8 you should get 1 premium topping and 2 regular toppings in addition to the free onions. that's the only way i could be tricked into giving them money

>>21419460
Wait till you see them put cheese on curry

>>21416407
You're paying extra to eat it now rather then later and no clean up. Plus its still cheaper then getting a #1 at McDonalds or Burger King.

Do these places have any real staying power? I can see people going in for the novelty of it or if you work nearby maybe dropping in every now and again. Are people really going to these places repeatedly to pay so much when they could buy the same packs of ramen and toppings and just have a stockpile of it.

One of my local asian stores started offering the service but it's attached to a cafe that serves cooked foods and drinks too.

>>21416392 (OP)
>"is this even a viable business model?"
>Sign cleary says "Sorry, we are closed"

Are you retarded?

>>21416392 (OP)
>7.99
in USA green dorrars?
it's only about 1.9230769230769230769230769230769 USDs in Singapooru!
Thanks, Trump. SEA food prices is saved!

>>21422285
a whooper set cost 8.50 singapoor dollars in not-malaysia. that's about 6.5384615384615384615384615384615 in glorious trump dollars.

>>21422036
it literally cost 4X more than a singapoor version of it, and SEA city /biz/ rents are as high as NYC or Tokyo... you're getting ripped off. and apparently your zoomers buy it anyway?

>>21421238
that's probably how they're still in business

>>21419446
this is who eats there on the regular....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmiUgRJp8Y4

>>21416407
You are paying for the ramen, the water, the heating, and most importantly, the convenience of having ramen at wherever this place is, aka rent these tards have to pay. Yes, the components are cheap, but rent is NOT. Especially if in some area with tons of traffic like an airport.

>>21425481
You can get hot water for a bowl of ramen at 7 fucking Eleven (and likely every other convenience store in existence) for free. Don't give me that bullshit.
t. has gotten hot water for ramen at 7 fucking Eleven for free

>>21425627
>has gotten hot water for ramen at 7 fucking Eleven for free
but was there atmosphere?
were they playing kpop?
did you have 100 options to choose from?
were there cool people to meet?
I bet that 7-11 wasn't on instagram

>>21425639
>but was there atmosphere?
Yes. The 7 fucking Eleven in question is in Chinatown.
>were they playing kpop?
Not in the 7 fucking Eleven but the place next door is a Chinese barbecue stand and they play whatever Chino pop they play there. There's a Korean place around the corner somewhere but idk if they play kpop.
>did you have 100 options to choose from?
Not 100, no, but the 7 fucking Eleven had way more instanoodle options than you might have expected, especially for the time people (this was, like, 20 years ago).
>were there cool people to meet?
Sure. Besides being in Chinatown, it's also a block away from the bus station and around the corner from a show venue so you could meet cool people. For example, I met this guy, Bug, who was a roadie for Danzig, at a CVS nearby and he got me backstage cuz I helped him pick a birthday card for his daughter. That's pretty cool. I don't like Danzig, tho.
>I bet that 7 fucking Eleven wasn't on instagram
Not unless they traveled a few years into the future first, no.

>>21419481
It's legit tiktok brainrot. Youtubers travel to asian countries where they let you do this shit, its nothing special. But of course, for the fags on those social media platforms they go
>like omg thats so hecking cool, we can just eat cool ramens with nice toppings! I'd eat that!
so they travel together and act like they've done something special

>>21425979
it provides a good excuse for narcissistic zoomers to make videos of themselves going to places like this so everyone knows they're cool

>>21426720
retardation is apparently cool now. neat

>>21416465
>'how' instead of 'hot'
>"this is unreadable, i literally cannot understand you"
you are either an esl yourself with poor ability to understand moderately complex sentences or the level of english for americans that cannot even interpolate a little in their own language is worse than i thought

>>21418442
>>21418446
they look happy here

>>21416442
probably more than 7.99 a bowl. closer to 20 these days

>>21416442
Actual ramen outside of Japan is shit, and it also costs 2x more minimum

>>21416392 (OP)
>is this even a viable business model?
It looks stupid to me. Having a ramen menu that doesn't have sliced roast pork or sliced hard boiled egg is just silly. If green onion is free, then so should be cilantro.

>>21427422

Millennials are the gayest and most cringe generation that has ever existed. I hate them even more than boomers.

>>21427422
The one with the slickback kinda looks like Jack Whitehall. He even has the same one-eye-is-bigger-than-the-other thing going.

>>21416392 (OP)
Such restaurants existed in Japan in the past, but most of them have closed.
The reason, as many anons have said, is the high price.
Some restaurants that only sell rare ramen from all over Japan are also struggling due to online shopping.

>>21416392 (OP)
>There are no or few real ramen shops around.
>Imported instant ramen is relatively expensive.
>7-Eleven does not sell ramen.
If these conditions are met, they may succeed.

>7-Eleven ramen
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KrmTCjq_cNk
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qmpO-fJdGvo
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-j1bnvpKRPk
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/022-_-tqcbw

>>21428781
>Millennials are the gayest and most cringe generation that has ever existed.
I dunno, the fops in the early 1920s were pretty bad too

>>21416392 (OP)
is this current generation's equivalent of millenial cereal selection bars?

>>21416392 (OP)
I don't know if the markup is the same once you account for currency rates, but instant noodles are sold in a similar way in SEA street stalls. They even show you the noodle pack before they cook so you know you're not getting a rip-off. This is just America playing copycat.

>>21416507
you'd think places like this would get beaten out by similarly priced joints that actually cook your noodles, but there's a guy in the town I went to college to that sells grocery store snacks between 12am and 6am, calls it Munchies by Night. It must be working OK, it's existed since I went to college 10 years ago and there are like 4 vans now.

>>21417451
this is so lazy...

>>21418529
I do the same, but with muesli and golden grahams, mix them up in a box so I don't have to do it every morning

>>21418533
it doesn't taste the same at all and unless you're using hot milk for some reason the honey doesn't dissolve into the milk in time. You must be a cereal novice.

>>21429727
No. The cereal bars thing was millenials getting nostalgic for better times that they actually experienced. This whole ramen bar thing, is zoomers pining for something they never experienced (a high trust society). They saw Tik Toks of people in South Korea, POV videos, eating at these ramen bars and thought they could bring them over here, LMAO

>>21428781
Are we sure they're millennials? Both have greying hair, could be late gen X. (Which would fit since it seems like 90% of stereotypical "millennial" shit is actually their doing.)

>>21418528
nobody likes (You) anon

>>21429756
don't you guys have authentic ramen places though? You have so many second-gen Asians, it would make sense. Even my small city has some 20 something kids making a go at a ramen shop after spending time in Japan.

>>21419487
yeah the taste is alright but I also couldn't get past the texture

>>21419491
who goes to a place like this alone

>>21429794
Who goes to a restaurant alone, ever? shit is gay and cringe and they deserve to be made fun of on the internet.

>>21429795
I thought of two off the top of my head:
• People who travel for work (not necessarily work trips but I mean folks who's jobs keep them out of the office doing whatever but don't have a partner to work with)
• People who have medical appointments.

>>21429795
If you're on your own in a town on business you don't really have much of a choice. The hotel restaurant is often shit if there is one so it makes more sense to go to a normal place.
Some people enjoy going alone as well, mostly they're people that will eat at that restaurant every single day.
Going to a place like this alone makes 0 sense unless you're a journalist or blogger doing it for work, you get no real nourishment and you stick out so you won't get a good experience.

>>21429805
>Some people enjoy going alone as well,
there was one place I worked at where I could barely stand any of the coworkers. lunch was the only real break I could get from them. at least a little moment of peace - I would sneak out silently without letting anyone tag along. nothing wrong with eating alone at all

>>21430311
oh I meant going to a restaurant alone. I did the exact same when I was doing an internship in a place I didn't enjoy, spent every lunch break in the park so I could have some quiet before I went back for another four hours.

I think there's nothing wrong with eating alone in a restaurant either, I just don't get it since I would feel too awkward to enjoy it. But then again I prefer to do stuff on my own in general.

>>21416495
most people aren't confused by noodles, anon.
most people also don't want their seasoning getting sent down the drain with the cooking water in the case of dry noodles.

>>21416392 (OP)
works in Korea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks5EwZpEAr4

>>21416392 (OP)
it's viable because
>thing
>thing (japan)

>>21416392 (OP)
>is this even a viable business model?
only in extremely population dense cities where the average person has a disposable income of 100-200k/year in some do-nothing office job.

>>21417706
This.
Most of them are "proof of concept" marketing bullshit designed to trick some dumbcunt Investor out of $10mil.
They get the money, open a shitty shop for $1-2mil, go overseas and retire on the other $8mil and are never seen again.
Investor checks in a year or two later, realises he's been scammed, shuts the place down and cries to the govt/banks for handouts under corporate insurance.

>>21419490
>>21418375
>>21419492
Only possible use for these would be if it was 50c to $1 for a bowl and you wanted to try a bunch of rare cereal, or weird cereal that you dont want to drop $5-10 in a box for.

>>21416407
Because the people its marketed at are the 200k/year hipster/yuppie businessfags who are already casually spending $20-50 on their lunch break every day already.
They see the noodle place, get nostalgia for their "mom top up my credit card!" college days and to them $8 is nothing.

Hell, girls spend that much on a shit starbucks coffee, sometimes multiple times a day.
With how bad inflation is now, $8 is a steal for any sort of food out somewhere, even if it is just instant noodles.

>>21419461
>>21419476
>its all fat 3rdie women chasing tiktok views
every time lmao

>>21428781
You're getting millennials confused with hipsters again...