FTC investigating ramen chain over Antimonopoly Law

FUKUOKA — e Fair Trade Commission is investigating popular ramen restaurant chain Ichiran Inc., based in Fukuoka, on suspicion of violating the Antimonopoly Law, sources said.

e ramen company is suspected of having illegally pressured retailers not to lower the prices of its instant bowl noodles and other merchandise, according to the sources.

Ichiran’s instant bowl noodles have drawn attention for its bullish pricing of ¥490 — relatively expensive for instant ramen. It consists only of noodles and soup, with no toppings. Ichiran started its business as a tonkotsu pork-broth ramen restaurant in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1960. Currently, there are 87 Ichiran restaurants in Japan and abroad. Beside running the restaurants, the company develops various products, including ramen to be consumed at home.

In 2013, the company started selling the products at its shops and website as well as in supermarkets across the country. Ichiran’s rst instant bowl noodles called Ichiran Tonkotsu went on sale in February last year.

e company added no extra ingredients to the product, opting to keep it simple with just the noodles and the soup.

e company said it wanted consumers to savor the pure taste of ramen. e decision was much talked about in the nation, as was the relatively high price. e company has sold about 6 million servings of Ichiran Tonkotsu.

e FTC began the investigations voluntarily last year and now suspects the company has tried to maintain its image by preventing discounts. e FTC is expected to uncover actual exchanges between the company and retailers, among other things.

In principle, the antimonopoly law prohibits manufacturers from making a retailer sell

their products at a speci ed price without a valid reason.

e practice is called resale price restriction. (April 3)

The Yomiuri Shimbun Ichiran Tonkotsu, instant bowl noodles produced by Ichiran Inc.