Japanese are enthusiasts in the preparation and consumption of fresh food.
Prior to the pandemic, locals and tourists flocked down to restaurants for traditional Japanese food. Fish
markets were also full of customers haggling for the freshest tuna, eels, oysters and such. (slide 1)
But then, the pandemic happened. Food markets are almost empty (slide 2).
Customers stopped coming into restaurants (slide 3).
Now that everybody is ordering food online, food delivery business has become a hit as well.
Locals normally prepare sushi during special occasions. Now that pandemic has hit, there has been a big drop
in terms of customers who dine in and a little increase in customers who purchase and prepare in their
household. (slide 4) Some restaurants started selling boxes of frozen tuna online to offset losses in sales. While
some customers buy the boxes as gifts for elderly family members, others are put off by the lengthy process of
defrosting tuna, which involves leaving the fish in the fridge for several hours.
With the increased demand for takeout food, many restaurants have been reluctant to offer ramen as noodles
get soft and broth spills in transit. Such dishes remain popular with Japanese consumers regardless of their
age, which is why ramen restaurants need to develop a way to commercialize the traditional ramen. A leading
sushi bar chain operator, has found a solution. It has developed a gelatinous broth that turns into a liquid when
warmed up in a microwave (slide 5, upper left photo). Some small business owners offer ramen to be poured
into the customer’s own pot (slide 5, lower left photo). Other restaurants have packed ingredients in separate
small packages and the ramen broth in another to promote a “build-it-yourself” ramen style.
Since there is no light as to when the pandemic will end, business owners have become creative enough to
serve traditional dishes for consumers.