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The story
Suke-san Udon, a popular udon chain that originated in Kitakyushu, is drawing complaints on social media that “the noodle quality has dropped” as it expands its store count. It started with an article from Weekly Woman PRIME in which the poster’s younger brother lamented that “Suke-san Udon has gotten incredibly bad.” On 5ch, the discussion thread broadened to cover acquisitions, price hikes, and flavor changes at major chains like Marugame Seimen and Tsurutontan, splitting opinion between those who believe “quality drops after an acquisition” and those who countered “just eat it without worrying about taste differences.”
Posted 10:00 AM, Sunday 9/27
Weekly Woman PRIME
“My little brother was saying Suke-san Udon has gotten incredibly bad, and I was like, no way — but I went to check for myself, and yeah, the noodles have become a totally different thing, and it’s not good!”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
After an acquisition, they have to prove the purchase wasn't a mistake.
The easiest way to do that is cutting costs — or more specifically, skimping on ingredients.
The original taste only existed because of a certain level of investment, but the new owners couldn't care less about any of that.
More than 90% of elementary schoolers would probably misread it that way.
I don't think I'll ever go back.
If I'm gonna eat that, frozen udon is good enough.
The udon itself got bad more than 10 years ago.
Seriously haven't been back since then.
Well, lack of chewiness (koshi) is just what Suke-san Udon is about.
Suke-san Udon's noodles aren't known for strong chewiness — their signature is a soft, mochi-like texture.
Something like Ise udon (a regional style with soft, thick noodles) tastes bad.
If letting the quality slip meant putting even your own family in danger, I bet you'd fight tooth and nail to keep it up.
What was the point of buying it?
Guess they've burned through the asset called trust — fitting, since "Suke-san" (資さん) is a pun on 資産 (shisan), meaning "assets."
Wheat flavor changes completely just from switching the growing region.
If they cheap out and use the cheap stuff, the taste gets cheaper too.
It's not just udon — this goes for bread and pasta too.
Wheat's part of it, but temperature and humidity also change the salt concentration and water content, so they tweak things slightly every single day.
Sanuki udon shops in Kagawa are that particular about it.
( ∩ミ See, it's got chew (koshi)!
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( '∀')ノ Such a huge decline!
That's Yamada Udon you're thinking of.
I tried this place and felt totally betrayed.
I get that — I'm from Aichi, but there's a station udon stand there where the broth's a different color, the noodles have real bite, and the dashi is strong.
Made me wonder how a fast-food-style place could be this legit.
It's a Kitakyushu thing.
✕ Hakata udon
○ Ise udon
A large plain udon plus one piece of tempura is over 800 yen now.
At that point, I'd rather just eat ramen.
Maybe some reasonably priced newcomer will shake up the udon market again?
That's exactly how Marugame grew in the first place, though.
Saitama folks have zero standards when it comes to udon.
Musashino udon is good though.
I've only been to Yamada Udon once in my life.
It's got a stylish vibe and the prices aren't that high, so I want to try it.
But there are only a handful of locations, mostly in cities like Tokyo and Osaka.
Oh, that's the one Saint Marc Holdings is acquiring.
Saint Marc Holdings to acquire udon chain Tsurutontan for 12.8 billion yen
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUC163FY0W6A910C2000000/
Why is it that when a regional restaurant opens a branch in Tokyo, it turns into something different…
Is there something that makes it impossible to recreate the original taste exactly?
Tokyo is where people from all over Japan converge.
So they probably have to smooth out the regional flavor quirks to make something everyone in Japan will like.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Suke-san Udon is a chain founded in 1976 that originated in Kitakyushu, and in recent years it has been expanding outside its home prefecture, including into the Kanto region. In the udon industry, major players have seen a string of M&A deals and price revisions — from Marugame Seimen’s price hikes to Tsurutontan’s acquisition by Saint Marc Holdings — so the concern raised in the thread that “quality drops after an acquisition” reflects broader distrust toward the industry as a whole rather than an issue specific to Suke-san alone. At the same time, there were counterarguments like “just eat it without worrying about taste differences,” and it’s easy to overlook that perceptions of taste vary a lot from person to person, and that rising costs for raw materials like wheat are a challenge shared by every chain, not just this one.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “‘The Noodles Are a Completely Different Thing,’ ‘The Decline Is Incredible’ — Fans Slam Suke-san Udon as the Chain Expands, Calls Grow for ‘Maintaining Quality’.”
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