How much are the startup funds for a ramen shop? Interior, kitchen equipment, and sourcing the noodles

Someday you want your own ramen shop. The soup’s flavor is coming together, and you’ve started looking for a location. But once it comes to actually opening, how much you need to prepare doesn’t come into view.

The startup funds for a ramen shop become easier to organize — where, and how much — when you split them into the location, the interior, the kitchen equipment, sourcing the noodles, and the working capital for a while after opening. Taisei Kikai Kogyo, a noodle-machine manufacturer, has put together a way to think about startup funds, with kitchen equipment based on the selling prices on Tenpos.com.

1. What are the startup funds used for?

The startup funds for a ramen shop split into the costs that arise just once before you open the shop, and the reserve for the costs that go out every month after opening. The former are the location acquisition cost, interior construction cost, kitchen equipment and fittings, and the equipment for sourcing the noodles; the latter is the working capital.

Among the costs before opening, the one with the widest range of amounts is the interior construction cost. Even for a shop of the same size, the construction needed changes completely depending on whether it’s a handover property, where the previous shop’s equipment remains, or a bare skeleton property with nothing. The location acquisition cost also differs greatly by area, location, and the contract terms of each property.

The location acquisition cost and the interior construction cost can only be confirmed with the actual property and a quote. The kitchen equipment, on the other hand, is mostly fixed once the menu and scale are decided, so you can produce a concrete figure before opening.

2. The interior construction cost is decided by the state of the property

Most of the interior construction cost is decided by whether the property is a handover or a bare skeleton.

• Handover property: because the previous shop’s kitchen and interior remain, cost is easier to hold down if there’s a lot of usable equipment. However, if the remaining equipment is broken or doesn’t suit the new business type, you incur both removal and new-installation costs.
• Bare skeleton property: because there’s no interior or equipment, you need work to bring in water, gas, and electricity from zero. In return, you can freely decide the kitchen layout.

What’s especially worth confirming for a ramen shop is the capacity of the electricity and gas. Many electric noodle boilers and commercial freezer-refrigerators need a three-phase 200V power supply, and if you line up gas equipment you need to confirm whether the gas supply is enough. Listing the power supply and gas type of the kitchen equipment you plan to install, before you sign the contract, makes it easier to prevent extra construction costs.

One way to hold down interior cost is to use used interior materials, do the processes you can do yourself — such as painting and assembly — yourself, and ask a tradesperson only for the electricity, gas, and water work. At the Tenpos Kawaguchi Restaurant Interior Materials Center (Kawaguchi, Saitama), you can choose from used interior materials — furniture, lighting, fixtures, flooring, and more — lined up on a single 1,254㎡ floor, checking the actual items, and you can also get an introduction to a tradesperson for just the processes you need. The tradesperson introduction carries no fee for the requesting side, and the quote is free as well (the contract and payment are directly with the tradesperson). Trucks up to 4 tonnes can drive in to load, so you can take large materials home on the spot.

Source: Tenpos Kawaguchi Restaurant Interior Materials Center, “Building your shop” and “Where to buy used interior materials” (Japanese pages; confirmed October 26, 2026).

3. How much does the kitchen equipment cost?

The cost of a ramen shop’s kitchen equipment, calculated at the selling prices on Tenpos.com, comes to about 1.59 million yen to assemble a minimum set new, or about 1.24 million yen combining used units. It’s an estimate for assembling, one by one, the equipment needed for a ramen shop’s basic tasks: boiling noodles, simmering soup, chilling ingredients, and washing.

*Prices are the selling prices of each product on Tenpos.com (incl. tax, as of October 26, 2026). Prices and stock change, so check the latest price when buying. Shipping, installation, and gas/electricity connection work are not included.
*Used units are one piece each in stock, so the same model isn’t always available.
*If the table is cut off, scroll sideways to view it.

The kitchen-equipment estimate shows three things about how to choose.

First, used isn’t always cheaper than new. On Tenpos.com, much of the new stock is sold at a steep discount from list price, and for some models — like the refrigerated cold table — the new selling price falls below the used one. For the ice maker too, there were cases where, for about the same capacity, new was cheaper than used. For new versus used, comparing the price model by model before choosing is the sure approach.

Second, what swings the total the most is the dishwasher. The difference between new and used is about 230,000 yen, making up about two-thirds of the difference in the total. For a shop with few seats and little washing, there’s also the option of not installing a dishwasher at opening and hand-washing at the two-compartment sink. In that case, the total comes to about 1.04 million yen new, or about 920,000 yen combining used units.

Last, you need to confirm the power supply too. The example used noodle boiler is a three-phase 200V electric unit, and it can’t be used if the shop has no power (three-phase) supply. If you choose gas equipment, the model also changes depending on whether it’s city gas or LP gas. The example used dishwasher (Maruzen MDKST8E) is single-phase 100V and works on either 50Hz or 60Hz, but some used units are limited in frequency, such as “60Hz only.” Confirm the frequency too, matching whether you’ll use it in eastern Japan (50Hz) or western Japan (60Hz).

Besides the kitchen equipment, you also need to assemble tableware such as bowls and renge spoons, cooking tools such as noodle strainers (tebo), soup strainers, and cutting boards, and a ticket machine or register. The numbers needed change with the menu and seats, so they’re not included in the total above.

4. How does sourcing the noodles change the cost at opening?

Depending on how you source the noodles, the cost at opening and the monthly cost after opening change in opposite directions.

*The per-ball cost is a general market figure from our research as of October 2026. Noodle-machine prices are as of October 2026.

The per-ball difference between supplier noodles and in-house noodles is about 24 yen, which comes to about 720,000 yen a year at 100 bowls a day, 25 days a month. Dividing the Taisei No.1 body price by the about-720,000-yen annual difference reaches the body price in about 2 years 4 months (electricity, labor, and repair costs not included).

What holds down funds at opening the most is starting with supplier noodles. On the other hand, switching from supplier to in-house noodles after opening changes the noodle’s taste, which can confuse your regulars. Start with in-house noodles from opening, and the noodle too is remembered as part of the shop’s taste from the start. Which to choose is decided by how much room you have in your startup funds and whether you want to differentiate with the noodle.

5. How much working capital should you allow for?

Working capital is the reserve of rent, labor, ingredient, and utility costs until, after opening, sales can cover the monthly outgoings. A newly opened shop often has unstable sales until customers settle in, and you need to cover the outgoings in the meantime with funds on hand.

The guide is to allow for at least six months’ worth of working capital. Japan Finance Corporation’s guide for starting a food-service business lists, among its pre-founding checkpoints, whether you have prepared “around half a year of loss-covering funds, etc.” as working capital after the business starts. Tenpos’s business-opening support site also recommends preparing at least six months’ working capital for opening a ramen shop.

That said, there’s a limit to how much working capital you can borrow. According to Tenpos’s business-opening support site, the loan ceiling for working capital is usually around three months’ worth as a guide, and the portion beyond that needs to be prepared from your own funds. If you borrow startup funds, plan the equipment funds and the working capital separately, and consult a financial institution.

Source: Japan Finance Corporation, “To those newly starting a food-service business: Guide to Founding a Business Plus” (September 2025); Tenpos Restaurant Opening Map, “Fundraising for opening a ramen shop” (Japanese page; both confirmed October 26, 2026).

If the interior work or equipment arrangement is delayed and the opening slips, rent goes out with no sales. If you’re hurrying to open in a handover property, you also need to put the delivery times of the kitchen equipment and the noodle machine into the startup-funds plan.

6. How to open with in-house noodles (with the Taisei noodle machine)

The Taisei noodle machine is a commercial noodle machine with over 30 years of history: Taisei Kikai Kogyo handles design and manufacturing, and the sole distributor Kitchen Techno handles sales and post-installation training. You can choose the following to match your opening preparations.

• Free ramen school: a one-day hands-on demonstration that Kitchen Techno holds once a month each in Tokyo and Osaka, and irregularly in Sapporo. Besides noodle-making and soup, you can learn opening and management know-how.
  Tokyo venue: Tenpos Tokyo Ramen Senmonkan (2-1-14 Higashi-Ayase, Adachi-ku, Tokyo)
  Osaka venue: Tenpos Osaka Ramen Senmonkan (2-1-8 Kitajima, Suminoe-ku, Osaka)
• Rental: from 62,000 yen a month, you can start in-house noodles while holding down funds at opening. You can also discuss switching to a purchase once satisfied.
• Early delivery: the standard No.2 keeps stock for early delivery and, when in stock, can be delivered within 1-2 weeks domestically. A reconditioned used machine, when in stock, can be delivered in as little as one week.

There are three models — the No.1 for small shops and the early days of opening, the standard No.2 chosen by the most shops, and the No.3 for large-volume preparation — and every model comes standard with a mixer. Body prices are 1,688,000 yen for the No.1, 1,875,000 yen for the No.2, and 2,475,000 yen for the No.3 (all excl. tax, as of October 2026); a Stainless Version, resistant to rust and free of paint peeling, has also begun build-to-order across all models (price on inquiry).

7. Frequently asked questions

Of the startup funds, the kitchen equipment and noodle-sourcing costs can be produced as concrete figures before opening, once the menu and scale are decided. Start by writing out the equipment your own shop needs and comparing new and used prices.