Serving Up Udon Worldwide: Awata Takaya / President & CEO, Toridoll Holdings

"Direct Talk"

Our guest today is Awata Takaya,

President and CEO of Toridoll Holdings.

The company's main business is a chain of udon restaurants.

Udon is a type of wheat flour noodle

that the Japanese have been enjoying for centuries.

It's typically served with a soy-sauce based broth.

Awata operates Japan's largest udon chain,

with more than 800 restaurants across the country.

The firm and flexible noodle is now gaining popularity overseas.

Awata has opened more than 200 locations

in nine countries and territories.

In 2021, he opened the chain's first British outlet.

Awata built his restaurant chain from scratch in one generation.

Today he shares his business philosophy and the localization strategy

behind his firm's international success.

Serving Up Udon Worldwide

My hope is that the local people are really happy to have us there,

and that udon becomes an everyday food for them.

I think that would be wonderful.

It's important for us to experiment

and find the flavors that suit the local palate.

I'm always telling my employees,

just because something works in Japan

doesn't mean it'll translate elsewhere.

Awata's udon restaurants are always bustling with customers.

In Japan, bowls start from 290 yen,

or about two dollars and 20 cents.

Some are served hot,

some are served cold.

They offer a variety of dishes.

In typical Japanese style,

the noodles are complemented with a savory broth.

Soy sauce is added to "dashi" made from bonito flakes and "kombu" kelp.

Both in Japan and overseas,

Awata's restaurants have adopted a self-service format.

Customers walk up to the service counter to get started.

After grabbing a tray and placing their order,

the staff boil the noodles right in front of them.

After receiving their udon,

customers move further down the line to choose their toppings.

There's vegetable tempura, chicken tempura, and more.

After paying for their meal,

customers can help themselves to complimentary toppings

such as spring onion and grated ginger before sitting down to eat.

Udon purveyors have been around for a long time.

We first opened our restaurant back in 2000.

So we were late to the game, so to speak.

So as a latecomer,

we had to find a way to attract customers.

And I knew preparing the udon right in front of the customer would be key.

It's all about getting people interested.

So the idea was fresh noodles prepared in-house,

right before your eyes.

I was sure that that would resonate with people.

That's why our restaurants are laid out this way.

Awata opened his first restaurant in 1985

when he was 25 years old.

He opened an izakaya dining bar specializing in yakitori.

At the time, he was convinced that if you opened a restaurant,

customers would come.

We were getting zero traction.

No one was coming into my establishment.

We were barely getting any business.

Honestly, it was just really depressing.

Yeah.

It was a rude awakening,

a real wake-up call.

Nasty shock.

My wife became pregnant that same year,

and eventually gave birth to our first son.

At that time, whenever I thought about

what kind of life lay ahead of us,

I got very anxious.

Awata had stumbled out of the gate.

He was in the midst of despair,

when one day, he came across inspiration.

I read it in a newspaper or maybe a magazine.

I don't quite remember,

but it was about how more young women were going to izakayas.

So I kept yakitori as our main offering,

but added menu items like omelets and salads,

whatever I could think of.

I figured out how to make it by watching others.

Little by little, I gave the place a makeover

and rebranded as a

"western-style yakitori dining bar."

For example, I brought in some imported furniture and the like.

I remember trying to explain to customers

that our decor was southern European-inspired,

just completely unfounded, of course.

Through trial and error, Awata managed to stay afloat.

Then in 1997,

he had an experience that would change everything.

My father was born in Kagawa Prefecture,

and I had visited the place a number of times before.

But I got to visit for the first time

since I'd opened the restaurant.

So, Kagawa is famous for its udon culture.

And I saw this udon place

with this huge line of people waiting to get in.

I'd been working so hard to come up with ideas for my restaurant,

but I'd never managed to attract a line like that.

I'd never seen my customers so excited to be there.

I asked myself,

why were so many people coming to this specific udon place?

I really felt that it was because they made their udon fresh at the restaurant,

and they boiled the noodles right then and there before serving them immediately.

It seemed to me customers were coming for that experience.

I realized that was the secret to a flourishing business.

It was like I'd been struck by lightning.

Awata opened his first udon restaurant in 2000.

It was a rousing success.

And gradually, he opened new locations across Japan.

Throughout it all, he was careful to cultivate a distinct brand identity.

When you come through our doors, you see bags of flour stacked up.

Maybe you hear the noodle-making machine going.

And then there's steam rising off the huge pot where we cook the noodles.

Those were essential elements to setting the scene.

I wanted our kitchen to be open.

Customers had to be able to see their food being made to order

right in front of their eyes.

That was key.

That's part of the experience of dining with us.

So that's why our restaurants have an open, visible kitchen.

Industry insiders questioned that strategy,

arguing that a restaurant chain looking to optimize efficiency and sales

should adopt a central kitchen system.

But even at urban locations with limited space,

Awata installed open kitchens and noodle-making machines

even if it meant a smaller seating capacity.

When it comes to restaurant chains,

there's a tendency to focus on efficiency and uniformity.

With a central kitchen system,

you make the noodles at a centralized location,

then freeze them or something before sending them out.

That way, food is easy to prepare and the flavor is consistent.

But then there's nothing to attract customers.

Factory-made udon isn't going to impress anyone.

You need to make the noodles right in front of their eyes.

That's what leaves an impression.

That's what gives customers a reason to come to your restaurant.

I believe that with a passion.

It wasn't long before Awata was running Japan's largest udon chain.

Then one day, he was in Hawaii on vacation.

I'd never been to Hawaii before,

so I went out of curiosity.

And one morning, I was walking around near the hotel

and suddenly came across a vacant retail space.

I had a flash of inspiration.

If we stacked some bags of flour here,

installed a noodle-making machine here,

and had a boiling pot there,

then maybe, just maybe,

local customers in Hawaii would come.

In 2011, Awata opened the chain's first overseas location in Hawaii.

On opening day, we had a line of customers

bigger than I could have ever hoped for.

And 11 years on, we still have people lining up to get in.

It got me thinking

that it would be such a waste to limit ourselves just to Japan.

We had to think bigger.

I got the sense that there was lots of growth potential for us overseas.

Following their success in Hawaii,

Awata opened locations across Asia in the years that followed,

including in China, Taiwan and Indonesia.

Elsewhere, he's opened restaurants on the US mainland.

In 2021, he opened their first British outlet in London.

He now operates 212 overseas locations

across nine countries and territories.

Just like their Japan-based locations,

each restaurant is equipped with a noodle-making machine,

and fresh noodles are cooked to order right in front of the customer.

The culture is different overseas.

So putting together the menu can be a big challenge.

But we take our time to figure out what's right for a particular location.

When it comes to making the udon noodles themselves,

we basically use the same method as in Japan.

But the things we match with the udon like the broth,

I think these should cater to local tastes.

Generally speaking,

I get the sense people overseas crave flavors reminiscent of ramen.

Case in point, in many countries,

our tonkotsu broth is very popular.

In areas with a Muslim population,

we do a similarly rich broth,

only made from chicken rather than pork.

In China, we offer a tomato-based soup.

Apparently, it's a flavor they enjoy.

When it comes to toppings, in Indonesia,

we offer chopped chili peppers.

It's really spicy,

but customers like it.

So you kind of learn these things as you go.

There might be some people who say these offerings

aren't authentic Japanese cuisine,

but all that matters is that the local customers are into it.

When we see our customers smile,

we know we're doing something right.

In 2021,

Awata launched a new project to put smiles on even more people's faces.

He's dispatched a food truck that travels to locations across Japan.

They serve up free bowls of udon to underprivileged children

and disaster-stricken communities.

There are many people who have never been to one of our restaurants

or are unable to go for one reason or another.

So we created this food truck to deliver udon to people in these areas.

That was the idea.

Recently, with the coronavirus,

healthcare workers have been having a particularly tough time.

So we've gone to hospitals to serve up some fresh udon

to give the workers a respite from their work.

That went really well.

(Do you have any words to live by?)

"Believe, and any flowers of yours will come out."

When I was younger, I was very unsure of myself.

So I was constantly wondering what I had to offer.

But from experience, I can say that if you put your mind to it,

if you're constantly trying to figure out a way forward,

something will come to you.

It's all about falling under the spell of your dream,

and using that to inspire yourself.

Dreams have this effect of pumping you up and galvanizing you.

So it's all about setting yourself up to dream,

putting yourself in a situation that inspires you.

That's the key.