Riding the Small City Gourmet Trend... Seven Eleven Sells 3 Million Iconic Regional Ramen Products

The Rise of Gourmet Small City Travel
Japanese Local Gourmet Trips Gain Popularity Amid Yen Depreciation
Ramen Category Sales Jump 20%

Seven Eleven announced on August 3 that its lineup of famous regional ramen from overseas, such as "Tokushima Ramen" and "Seven Select Jeong Hoyoung Takamatsu Udon," which have been introduced since last year, recently surpassed cumulative sales of 3 million units, driven by the growing trend of gourmet small city travel abroad.

Recently, there has been a shift among people in their 20s and 30s away from tourism focused on major cities and toward "gourmet small city travel," seeking unique local culture and restaurants. In particular, with the combination of physical distance and the weaker yen, there is a growing boom in Japanese local gourmet travel that reflects individual preferences, moving away from typical tourist hubs like Tokyo and Osaka. Seven Eleven is responding to this trend by incorporating it into its ramen launch strategy.

A customer is looking at famous regional instant noodles from overseas at Seven Eleven.

The product strategy for famous regional ramen has driven up sales in the ramen category. According to Seven Eleven, ramen category sales in the first half of this year rose by 20% compared to the same period last year. In addition, when analyzing age and gender data, differentiated overseas ramen products accounted for 32% of sales among male customers in their 30s and 40s, a significant share.

Building on this operating strategy, Seven Eleven is developing new famous regional ramen products to meet the rising demand for soup-based ramen in the winter season. The ramen category merchandiser is visiting around 20 restaurants in the targeted region to closely replicate the local noodle texture and soup flavor.

Going forward, Seven Eleven plans to expand its lineup of differentiated ramen by commercializing local noodle dishes from various countries, further broadening the spectrum of convenience store ramen.

Shin Jieun, the merchandiser in charge of processed foods at Seven Eleven, stated, "As the trend of gourmet small city travel grows, there are now many more customers wanting to enjoy the tastes of local cuisine and travel memories through convenience store cup ramen. We will continue to lead the market by discovering global local culinary delights and creating unique collaborations, offering exciting and exclusive global noodle dishes available only at Seven Eleven."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.