Kanada-Ya Singapore Exit: 4 Takeaway Lessons

Aspen Group has suffered continued losses, resulting in a sudden Kanada-Ya Singapore Exit.

While some are shocked by the sudden announcement, others expressed that it was inevitable because they felt the UK outlets serve tastier ramen.

Before the news was posted by The Straits Times, JEM and Marina Square outlets had already stopped operations, and the PLQ outlet was boarded up.

This exit is not unique as another Japanese food franchiser, Japan Food Holdings, has experienced loss of $2.9 million, more than four times the loss almost 2 months ago. That was after the group cut the number of restaurants by 2 outlets, and also closed 3 Konjiki Hototogisu outlets in Singapore.

Let’s take a look at the recurring topics modelled based on Ramen Keisuke Tori King’s Tripadvisor reviews.

As a restaurant that serves ramen, it is interesting that “bean sprouts” and “hard boiled eggs” rank higher right after “ramen”, as frequent topics among the reviews. That means a lot of reviewers talk about them too.

Ramen Keisuke restaurant serves free beansprouts and hard boiled eggs as starter before they serve their ramen. According to the reviews, the local diners seem to appreciate these items served before the main dish, because these help them to hold their hunger before their food comes. Hence, for F&B owners, you might want to serving free appetizers as it might become something memorable for your customers.

Optimize Hospitality and Problem Mitigation

Below is a review on the service at Ramen Keisuke Tori King in Singapore.

Usually people think of ramen as expensive food and a non-necessity, hence ramen restaurants need to offer an attractive point which keeps customers coming back. That is why a free kids meal might have succeeded in attracting, retaining customers and turning them to regulars, as parents might bring their kids here. However, in Kanada-Ya, Kids Tonkotsu Ramen is priced at $9.9. This is not something affordable especially considering the rising living costs in Singapore, and might be the reason why the restaurant does not sound attractive for repeat visits.

Beside that, it is also worth mentioning that Ramen Keisuke Tori King staffs also took complaints raised by the customers very seriously as shown in the review above. This might have convinced the diners to come back or even become a regular.

Above are are two 1 star reviews of Kanada-Ya Ramen Paragon (before it eventually closed).

The first review mentioned how the restaurant could not circumvent the system by charging more than it should. Since the customer mentioned they will be paying by Paywave (card), the system should be able to receive nominals with decimals. But if the system really could not accept decimals, the waiter could have communicated with other staffs on how to charge the exact amount.

The second review mentioned bad hospitality standards, even more after the shop removed the feedback on their Instagram account. It might seem trivial to some people, but the word “wait” might seem that the waiter is annoyed towards the request and sounds dismissive to the customer’s concerns. “Sure” and “I will be right with you” is more positive and shows that the waiter acknowledged the customer’s request.

Plan before Expanding

Another important aspect is that the expansions of Kanada Ya after its opening at PLQ in 2019 might have been too haste and done without considerations of world affairs.

They opened their second outlet at Marina Square around May 2022 and third outlet at JEM around October 2022, the gap between the second and third restaurant opening being 5 months. It is also worth mentioning that there was an ongoing conflict which might have raised living costs around the world.

First, Marina Square’s location is not strategic as it has less footfalls than Suntec City, a mall nearby but several times bigger and has more attractive tenants. It might be close to office areas, but during weekdays, people might want to eat more affordable food at food courts instead of ramen. Second, JEM’s mall layout is very complicated, making wayfinding difficult for diners. This is reflected by the number of google reviews of Marina Square being half the number of reviews of PLQ outlet, and the number of google reviews of JEM being a quarter of PLQ outlet.

Partner with People with The Same Values

The partner of Kanada-Ya in Singapore, Aspen Group, is a group focusing on property building, not F&B. This might have led to operational inefficiencies or lack of strategic focus. For Japanese brands wanting to expand overseas, it is essential to collaborate with partners with experience expanding F&B brands, tailoring it to local market, and most importantly adapting to the ever-changing world.

At Vintage Management, we provide consultation services to business owners, including those who are operating in the Food and Business industry and looking to expand to other countries. If you are one of them, please contact us here for a private discussion: https://seeandconnectsg.com/contact/

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