Current Events > Ramen Restaurant Offers Free Ramen for the Rest of Your life for Only $2,000

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https://soranews24.com/2023/10/21/ramen-restaurant-offers-free-ramen-for-the-rest-of-your-life-for-300000-yen/

How much money do you think youll spend at your favorite ramen restaurant chain in your lifetime? If its over 300,000 yen (US$2000), then the deal offered by Chiba Prefectures Uramusashiya makes a lot of sense.

Uramusashiyas original branch is located near Nishi Chiba Station in Chiba City, and it just opened a second restaurant close to Soga Station, also in Chiba City. Their specialty is a rich soy sauce/chicken stock broth, and for those who truly love it, Uramusashiya sent out an announcement through the restaurants official Twitter account that they were offering lifetime passes, priced at 300,000 yen.

The passes are valid at either Uramusashiya location, and get you a free bowl of noodles on each visit to the restaurant, in perpetuity.

So the question becomes wheres the break-even point on this ramen-related investment? Looking at Uramusashiyas menu, their basic ramen is priced at 800 yen, so youd have to eat 375 bowls of it to get your moneys worth.

However, the lifetime pass announcement says that you can also select more expensive chashu and limited-time ramen varieties too. The menu lists three kinds of chashu ramen, two at 1,150 yen, and one at 1,350 yen. Assuming the 1,350-yen is eligible, that would mean you only need to eat 223 bowls of ramen to make the lifetime pass a worthwhile use of your money, but theres more. In addition to ramen, the lifetime pass is also good for side orders of rice, which ordinarily cost 100 yen, so if youre ordering the premium chashu ramen and a side of rice each time, you only need to have 207 such meals to start coming out ahead.

That doesnt mean that it would take at least 207 days to break even, though, because Uramusashiya is good for multiple visits on the same day. The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. and closes at midnight during the week and at 10 p.m. on weekends and holidays, so assuming youre OK with a late breakfast, the 300,000-yen pass could ostensibly cover all of your meal expenses for the rest of your life, barring Tuesdays, when the restaurant is closed.

Uramusashiya didnt say how many lifetime passes it was issuing, and explained that theyd be first offered to customers who are already regulars at the restaurant. Whatever number were available, they were all snatched up within two days, proving that there are people who indeed feel like pre-purchasing a lifes worth of ramen meals is a sound decision. This wasnt the first time for Uramusashi to offer lifetime passes, though, as theyve previously sold 100,000-yen unlimited ramen passes for students only, so maybe well see this sort of deal from them again in the future.

That's... quite the bargain. Would it really work, though?

So long as the place doesnt go out of business, Id make it a goal to get my moneys worth on a free food for life deal

Yeah barring them shutting down the restaurant thats a great deal for hedging against inflation.

It's not a bad business deal in some sense cuz immediate money is better (though restaurants can't see that much benefit from investment and innovation). Ramen is also relatively easy to make in massive bulk and have a decently big mark up. Also even if you have a lifetime pass, seems it's only applicable to that city so far, so the moment somebody leaves, it's no longer their problem.

Also as much as one might like ramen, it's probably a good way to catch some disease if you straight up eat it everyday. So even craving anything else for more than half your years as one should, should make it really difficult to make up for the pass

I'd do it, Ramen is so good

You could eat it everyday and have it as your money's worth

Arcanine2009 posted...

You could eat it everyday and have it as your money's worth

Until you die from the multiple things that eating a lot of sodium causes

If I lived there, I'd buy the pass, and share it with my siblings. We all look similar to each other anyway.

Reminds me to that lifetime flight ticket case

I would absolutely do that.

Irony posted...

Until you die from the multiple things that eating a lot of sodium causes

Vastly overstated and recently mired in medical controversy! Mostly don't fuck with it if you're unhealthy in the first place.