Message｜Career Opportunities

Message

Gift hopes to put strong feelings into each bowl of ramen and provide a taste that will be loved by people around the world. We spoke with Sho Tagawa, President, about the appeal of Gift.

Representative Director, Gift Holdings Co.

Sho Tagawa

Born in Chiba, Japan in 1982, he learned the ropes of making ramen and serving customers at a ramen restaurant in Yokohama after graduating from high school; after 6 years of training, he opened "Yokohama Iekei Ramen Machida Shoten" in 2008, and in 2009, he founded Machida Shoten Co. The business expanded around Machida Shoten, and in 2016, the company began its overseas operations with a limited-time opening at Ramen Lab in New York City. Today, the company is attracting attention not only from the food and beverage industry, but also from a wide range of fields.

Bringing the taste of the family lineage to the world.

Since our establishment in 2008, we have been refining the taste of our ramen so that once you try it, you will never forget it and want to try it again. And we have continued to focus not only on making delicious ramen, but also on creating restaurants that are memorable.

Gift aims to open 1,000 stores in Japan and 1,000 stores overseas, and is rapidly expanding both directly managed and produced stores.

1,000 stores in Japan
Aiming for 1,000 stores overseas

In order to always provide the best cup of ramen, we have been researching, developing, and manufacturing all of our own noodles, sauce, and soup, which are the lifeblood of ramen, since early on in the company's history. We have accumulated the know-how to create restaurants that thrive. We have also been making full use of this know-how in our overseas business development. Gift is now rapidly expanding both directly managed and produced stores.

We have made many mistakes. But everything has become our food for thought. No matter how many more stores we open in the future, we are determined to create stores that will be loved by local residents for a long time. We have a goal for Gift. Beginning with the opening of stores in Los Angeles and New York, we are moving forward with plans to bring E.A.K. (heirloom) to people all over the world. We aim to open 1,000 stores in Japan and 1,000 stores overseas, and we will accelerate our store openings by focusing more on human resource training.

Building a store is about building people.
We want to nurture those who are willing to step up to the plate.

People have more potential than we can imagine. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. When I ask a staff member to do a new job, I sometimes wonder if I can really trust him with it due to his inexperience and background. However, when I open the door, I find that the person who seemed unreliable is really enjoying his work and delivering solid results. Looking back, it was a series of such surprises and joys that brought us to where we are today.

Originally, we were not a company that thought about expanding into new stores, but we began to think about providing the right stage for our hard-working staff, and before we knew it, our stores and company had grown considerably. From now on, we will expand our business to the world as a family-style ramen restaurant.

I want to make this a company where each and every one of our staff can work with the same vigor and enthusiasm as before and actively take on new challenges. We welcome anyone who stands out from the crowd. We want to grow together with people who are positive and have a spirit of challenge.