61-year-old Takaya Awata, the founder and CEO of Tokyo-listed Toridoll Holdings, best known for its popular 'udon noodle' restaurants, has become Japan's latest billionaire.
Shares of Toridoll, which operates nearly 1,900 eateries around the world, jumped by nearly 50% this year till date as people resumed eating out once again post pandemic. Awata¡¯s 48% stake in Toridoll is now worth $1.1 billion, based on Friday¡¯s closing price of ?3,930 ($26.8).
Established by the billionaire in 1990, Toridoll has grown to become one of Japan¡¯s leading operators of noodle shops with chains such as Marugame Seimen. Toridoll also owns eateries that serve up spicy Chinese rice noodles, pancakes, ramen and freshly fried tempura. Since 2010, he has been focusing on expanding Toridoll¡¯s footprint across the globe. Apart from Japan, where it has more than 1,000 restaurants, the company has a presence in the U.S., the U.K., Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, as per Forbes report.
In the quarter ended June, Toridoll reported record revenue of $??360 million, up 20% from the same period last year. Apart from drawing in more diners to its restaurants, the company added a takeout section, which contributed to the revenue rise.?
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The 61-year-old hopped on to the restaurant trade after dropping out of the Kobe City University of Foreign Studies. At the age of 23, he opened his first Japanese-style grilled chicken restaurant in 1985. But, as he once disclosed in an interview with Japan¡¯s broadcaster NHK, ¡°We were barely getting any business.¡±
It was a visit to his late father¡¯s hometown in Japan¡¯s Kagawa prefecture, famous for its udon noodle shops, that gave him a new idea. Seeing long queues outside the udon eateries, which cooked the chewy, wheat-flour noodles right in front of their customers - a scene that Awata described in a blog post as an ¡°emotional experience of food¡± - inspired him to set up his own noodle shop.
Rather than factory-produced noodles, Awata believes in offering freshly cooked fare that also offers a sensory experience that draws in customers. At Toridoll¡¯s affordable, self-service restaurants, the noodles are prepared in front of diners in open kitchens and served up usually in a soy sauce-based broth with a choice of different toppings.
As his chain expanded, the billionaire took the company public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2006.
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During the covid pandemic, the 61-year-old billionaire reportedly made free udon noodles available to underprivileged children in a food truck that traveled across Japan and also provided food in hospitals to healthcare workers. ¡°The things that generate the passion for food are hidden in unexpected places. We discover those hidden things and offer them as new value to generate joy in our customers. This is the greatest driving force for our growth and our mission.¡±
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