INGS inc. (245A) Stock Price

INGS is a foodservice company that operates ramen restaurants and casual dining establishments as its core business. The company operates company-owned ramen shops and restaurants while also selling and providing ingredients, recipes, and operational expertise developed through its direct operations to franchise partners and licensees. Its main brands include "Raa-men Hayashida," "CONA," and "Gyoza no Joe."

The company's primary customers are individual consumers who visit its restaurants and owners of franchise and licensed locations. In addition to food and beverage sales from company-owned stores, INGS generates revenue through sales of its private-label products (noodles, sauces, broths, etc.), production fees (monthly), and license fees and royalties.

The business is divided into two main segments: ramen and restaurants. In ramen, the company operates multiple brands emphasizing individual store character through company-owned locations, while its franchise division provides equivalent-quality ingredients and operational support. The restaurant division operates "CONA," a casual Italian concept focused on pizza at affordable prices, and "Gyoza no Joe," an izakaya centered on dumplings. The company is expanding into regional markets through license partnerships.

The company aims to achieve long-term growth through expansion of its directly operated stores. The target is 200 directly operated stores (100 ramen restaurants and 100 casual dining restaurants), plus 300 franchise and licensed stores, for a total of 500 locations. As of August 31, 2025, the company operates 174 stores across all formats. The strategy focuses first on establishing a strong presence in the Tokyo metropolitan area (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba) through urban locations, then expanding nationwide over time. Store selection criteria are clearly defined: directly operated urban stores target areas with 100,000+ daily commuters, while franchise and licensed stores target areas with 30,000+ daily commuters.

The company differentiates itself through focused investment in product development and store operations. In ramen, it operates nine proprietary brands; for example, it runs five brands with different noodle and broth characteristics simultaneously in one Shinjuku area to broaden its customer base. In casual dining, it manages costs through private-label products and menu revisions at brands like "CONA" and "Gyoza no Joe," while suburban locations emphasize booth seating and expanded side menus to attract families and increase average transaction value. For franchise stores, the company reduces barriers to entry—such as waiving franchise fees and training costs—to attract owners.

For new market development, the company uses different store formats strategically to expand geographically. While expanding directly operated stores in the Tokyo metropolitan area, it is simultaneously strengthening licensed store expansion in regions like Nagano, Yamanashi, Mie, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima where it already has a presence. The company is also diversifying sales channels beyond in-store dining to include takeout, e-commerce, delivery platforms (such as Uber Eats, Demae-can, and Rocket Now), and ghost restaurants that maximize facility utilization during off-peak hours. To accelerate franchise owner recruitment, the company plans to leverage social media, online information sessions, and partnerships with beverage distributors.

Technology innovation and strengthened talent and quality management are also key priorities. For customer engagement, the company is implementing a multi-brand mobile app that uses visit history data to send targeted push notifications and increase visit frequency. For quality assurance, it conducts monthly store inspections, mystery shopper visits, and hygiene audits by external agencies, with systematic feedback for continuous improvement. For talent development, the company uses personality assessments, talent pools, an internal social platform called "THANKS GIFT" to enhance communication, deploys area managers (approximately one per four to five stores), conducts quarterly evaluations, and provides monthly training to improve retention and capability development while balancing operational efficiency with service quality.