At the age of 47, Ando was penniless and back to square one.
Unlike before, no one was looking for it.
Although it was hopeless, Ando did not give up and tried to get back on track.
While he was wondering what kind of business he could start again, the 'food' business came to Ando's mind.
Seeing people starving after the war, I realized that without food to sustain health and well-being, a higher standard of living—clothing, housing, art, culture—was impossible, and I felt that food was of paramount importance.

Japan, which suffered from a food shortage after the war, made bread and biscuits with the aided wheat flour and provided them to the Japanese. Ando saw this and thought, “If we use the same wheat flour, why not promote noodles that the Japanese like?” and thought it would be nice to make ramen with the aided wheat flour.

And if he were to venture into the food business, he thought he could succeed by making 'instant ramen', a convenient food, using wheat flour imported from the United States, and so he took on the challenge of inventing instant ramen.
---「Part 1.
From "The Origin of Ramen and the Beginning of Instant Ramen"

Samyang Foods Chairman Jeon Joong-yoon, who was loved by the entire nation for Samyang Ramen, received a phone call from President Park Chung-hee.
President Park Chung-hee highly praised Samyang Foods for its contribution to the policy of promoting snack foods and suggested that they try adding red pepper powder to ramen soup.
President Park Chung-hee usually ate Samyang Ramen with red pepper powder, and he said that it was delicious when he put red pepper powder in his ramen.

At the time of its launch, Samyang Ramen did not contain red pepper powder and was a mild ramen with a chicken broth base.
After President Park Chung-hee's phone call, Samyang Industries decided to add red pepper powder to Samyang Ramen.
Samyang Ramen, which uses a soup with red pepper powder, is a little spicier than before.
Samyang Ramen, with a little more spiciness, became even more delicious and sold better than before.
---「Part 2.
From "The Roots of the Korean Ramen Industry: The Story of Samyang Foods and Nongshim"

Chairman Shin Chun-ho has prioritized quality management since entering the ramen market.
The company established an early research institute and steadily improved the quality of its ramen, and in the early 1980s, it made a large-scale investment to further improve quality.
Believing that the taste of ramen comes from the taste of the soup, he built a soup factory in Anseong and made a large-scale investment.

It's surprising to look at the ramen products released by Nongshim in the early 80s.
This is because all of Nongshim's representative ramen products that are loved to this day, such as Sabalmyeon (1981), Neoguri (1982), Ansungtangmyun (1983), Jjapagetti (1984), and Shin Ramyun (1986), were released in the early 1980s.

Launched in 1982, Neoguri is a premium ramen with an udon concept.
It is a product of chewy udon noodles, a favorite in the Sanuki region of Japan. It is said that the name came from the word tanuki (raccoon dog) that came up while talking about the Sanuki region during the naming process, and that the name came from the fact that the chewy noodles resembled a raccoon dog.
The mild flavor was released first in 1982, and the spicy flavor was released in 1983.
---「Part 2.
From "The Roots of the Korean Ramen Industry: The Story of Samyang Foods and Nongshim"

Pulmuone will launch its 'Yukgaejang Kalguksu' product in January 2016 using a new noodle manufacturing technology.
The Yukgaejang Kalguksu product was a product with an exquisite savory and spicy taste, made by adding flavor oil from stir-fried beef brisket and Vietnamese chili peppers to the broth made by carefully simmering beef bones and oxtail in a traditional cauldron for six hours. Thanks to the advanced dried noodle manufacturing technology, the rich flavor was well realized.


The Yukgaejang Kalguksu product gained explosive popularity as soon as it was released.
Within three months of its launch, it ranked 5th in sales at large discount stores in Seoul, beating out competing ramen brands. Within six months, it sold 20 million units, taking first place in the kalguksu ramen market with a 36.5% share.
Yukgaejang Kalguksu, developed with new technology, has now become Pulmuone's representative ramen.
As Pulmuone began to see concrete results in the dried noodle market, it changed its brand to 'raw noodle texture' and launched various follow-up ramen products, such as Tonkotsu Ramen and Chewy Bibim Jjolmyeon.
---「Part 3.
From "Stories of Companies and Representative Ramen that Challenged the Korean Ramen Market"

Korean ramen is also incredibly popular in China.
More than 65% of ramen imported from China is Korean ramen.
Samyang Foods is leading the ramen craze in China, and is achieving remarkable results in ramen exports, led by Buldak Bokkeum Myeon.
China's cumulative exports in 2023 reached 1.2 billion yuan (approximately 225 billion won), and exports are steadily increasing.
In addition, Ottogi and Paldo are active in the Chinese market.
On the other hand, Nongshim established a production base in China.
Through Shanghai Nongshim (上海農心), which has an annual production capacity of over 200 million ramen units, and Shenyang Nongshim (沈.農心), which has an annual production capacity of over 400 million ramen and snacks, Nongshim is capturing the taste buds of the Chinese people with products such as Shin Ramyun (辛拉面), Nongshim's representative ramen, Dolsot Beef Ramen (石.牛肉拉面), a localized version of Ansung Tangmyun, Udonmyeon (..myeon), a localized version of Neoguri, and Shanghai Tangmyun (上海.myeon) with clear broth.

---「Part 4.
From "Ramen Stories from Various Countries Around the World"