The Hawaii Store That Beats Japan on Sales: Marugame Udon
Marugame Udon's very first overseas store sits in Waikiki, Hawaii. It opened in April 2011, in a vacant unit that founder Takaya Awata happened to spot while jogging on holiday. Soon after opening, the store became one of the chain's top-selling locations, ahead of shops in Japan, and set a new sales record again in July 2021※1. An overseas store, and the very first one at that, has been outperforming the brand's busiest shops back home. What happened in Waikiki? And could it be repeated in markets with entirely different conditions?
Why the Waikiki Store Stands Apart
Starting at $3.75 a Bowl in High-Cost Waikiki
On April 1, 2011, Marugame Udon opened its first overseas store on Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki. With 68 seats and the same self-service format used in Japan, the store priced its staple kamaage udon and zaru udon at $3.75 a bowl at launch※2. In high-cost Waikiki, that price was markedly low against local dining rates. Tempura also drew such interest that some customers came in specifically to order it on its own.
This pricing came from the operating model rather than discounting. In a self-service format, where customers handle much of the ordering, carrying, and clearing themselves, labor costs run lighter than at a full-service restaurant. By bringing over the self-service model the brand had refined across Japan, Marugame Udon made a price that read as affordable against Waikiki rates workable from the start.
A line formed outside from the day the store opened, and it has not let up since. According to a 2023 press release from Toridoll Holdings, the Waikiki store records monthly sales of roughly 130 million yen※3.
※1 Reference: Gold Online, "Why Marugame Seimen's Honolulu Store Ranks No.1 in Global Sales" (https://gentosha-go.com/articles/-/25775) / Foodrink News, "Marugame Seimen Exits Korea; Hawaii Store Sets Record High Sales in July" (https://www.foodrink.co.jp/news/2021/08/2782053.html)
※2 Reference: Hawaiian Towns, "Marugame Udon Waikiki" (https://www.hawaiiantowns.com/restaurants/marukame-udon-waikiki-shop/)
※3 Reference: Toridoll Holdings press release (https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000157.000028440.html)
The In-Store Noodle-Making the Brand Refused to Drop, Even at a Cost
Since its founding, Marugame Udon has operated without a central kitchen. Everything from mixing the dough to forming the noodles is done on a noodle machine placed in each store. The Hawaii opening kept this method unchanged; the only switch was the sourcing of the flour.
Making noodles in-store raises both capital investment and the burden of staff training. For a first overseas store carrying significant uncertainty, switching to centralized production and distribution to each location would have been a defensible call. The brand did not make it. Keeping the full process — from flour to finished noodle — inside the store turned into a storefront attraction for customers unfamiliar with how udon is made.
Masayoshi Ono, who served as secretary to the founder at Toridoll, recalls in his book Why Marugame Seimen Became No.1 that the response to the Waikiki store was an unexpected hit even within the company※4. It was not a production staged for overseas customers; what the brand had always done in Japan simply landed — that is how those involved see it.
※4 Reference: Masayoshi Ono, Why Marugame Seimen Became No.1 (Shodensha) / Gold Online (https://gentosha-go.com/articles/-/25775)
In a City of Ever-Changing Customers, the Line Itself Became the Draw
There is no single reason the numbers have held up more than a decade after opening. Still, the nature of the Waikiki location weighs heavily. This is a city where most customers are tourists, in constant turnover. Unlike a typical location whose sales rise and fall with how often locals return, here "first-time customers" are structurally replenished.
For those first-time customers, the line out front and the noodle-making visible through the glass become reasons to step in. As of July 2026, the Waikiki store's Yelp page carries more than 14,000 reviews and over 21,000 photos※5. Customers who visit post photos, and the next wave of tourists who see them come in. That cycle keeps turning.
Whether Marugame Udon designed this cycle from the outset is unclear. What is clear is that without a price that read as low against local dining rates, and without noodles being made in view, the first push would never have started.
※5 Reference: Yelp - Marugame Udon (https://www.yelp.com/biz/marugame-udon-honolulu-15)
How Far the Waikiki Success Has Been Repeated
After the momentum from Hawaii, Marugame Udon's overseas openings accelerated. Here is how the expansion spread, and what the brand did in London, the market whose conditions differed most.
The Year After Hawaii, Openings in Shanghai and Bangkok
In 2012, the year after the Waikiki opening, Marugame Udon opened in Shanghai and Bangkok※6. The brand went on to expand into the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, and the U.S. mainland, and by the end of March 2025 its overseas count had passed 300 stores※7. Some markets did not work out and were exited. The brand withdrew from Korea in 2021, so it has not taken hold in every country※1.
What the markets still share is an approach that keeps the in-store noodle-making process in place while tailoring the broth and toppings to local tastes. The brand serves tonkotsu-based broth in the U.S., tom yum flavors in Thailand, and even a mac-and-cheese-topped udon in Texas※6. However far the flavors bend toward local tastes, the in-store noodle-making process alone stays fixed. That line has not moved since Hawaii.
※6 Reference: ORICON NEWS, "Ten Years of Marugame Seimen's Overseas Expansion" (https://www.oricon.co.jp/special/56289/)
※7 Reference: Foodrink News, "Marugame Seimen Passes 300 Overseas Stores" (https://www.foodrink.co.jp/news/2025/04/3061731.html)
In London, the Chain's First Vegan Menu
On July 26, 2021, the brand's first European store opened in Spitalfields, near London's Liverpool Street station. It launched while pandemic restrictions were still easing, yet about 100 people lined up before opening※8.
Unlike Hawaii, London had few customers who knew udon at all. One of the moves Marugame Udon made here was introducing the first vegan menu across the entire chain. The brand swapped the fish-based broth for a plant-based one, made the tempura batter vegan as well, and built a lineup in which vegan options accounted for about 30 percent of the menu. Alongside serving a city with a large vegetarian population, it also widened the door to a customer base unfamiliar with udon, positioning the store as a place anyone can enter※8.
With udon offered free on opening day, a long line formed outside. One 46-year-old customer who waited 80 minutes told the Nikkei that watching the cooking in the open kitchen was stylish and fun, and that the taste was unlike other places, adding that the vegetarian options were a welcome touch※9. The "visible cooking" that drew in first-time customers in Hawaii worked the same way in London.
Openings continued from there, and for the year ending December 2024 the UK business comprised nine stores with sales of about £15.9 million※10. In 2025, the UK and Ireland operation shifted to a master franchise structure, moving to a setup run under a local partner※11.
※8 Reference: Toridoll Holdings press release, "Marugame Seimen's London First Store Holds Grand Opening on July 26" (https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000111.000028440.html)
※9 Reference: Nikkei, "Marugame Seimen Opens First London Store, Full-Scale European Entry" (https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOGR26D4C0W1A720C2000000/)
※10 Reference: Restaurant (UK), "Marugame Udon reports 7% turnover decline" (https://www.restaurantonline.co.uk/Article/2025/11/11/marugame-udon-reports-7-turnover-decline/)
※11 Reference: The Caterer, "Marugame Udon plans UK and Ireland expansion" (https://www.thecaterer.com/news/marugame-udon-plans-uk-and-ireland-expansion-under-new-franchise-model)
Seen through the eyes of someone weighing a franchise, the shift of the UK business to a master franchise is the most practical development in this story. Marugame Udon entered the UK on a directly managed basis, confirmed the market, and handed expansion to a local partner once the prospects were clear. At the same time, there are markets like Korea that the brand exited. It is worth holding onto that fact as well — it has not taken hold the same way in every country.
A standout success like Waikiki is not something you can simply copy. Still, with a pattern of pricing, in-store noodle-making, and a clear line on localization already turning across several countries, there is a strong chance the same pattern gets carried into the next market. Read with the question of whether your own market is that "next" one, and this case becomes concrete material to work from.
A closer look at Marugame Udon's franchise
Marugame Udon
For those interested in Marugame Udon's overseas franchise opportunities, detailed information is available on the official website and franchise recruitment pages. There you can find information on contract types by country and region, support structures, and the first steps toward entering a new market.
The Waikiki store is often described as a case of "the Japanese approach landing overseas as-is." What operators weighing this model should keep in mind is that in-store noodle-making, the very thing that draws a crowd, is at the same time an operating burden. You install the machine, manage the flour, and train staff who can turn out noodles to a consistent standard. A crowd-drawing spectacle only works when there is the operational capacity to run it every single day.
That Marugame Udon has been able to carry the same format into several countries suggests it built that burden into the system itself. The weight behind the visible line — that is what deserves a closer look with this brand.