Would you be able to tell the difference between gourmet ramen and instant ramen? That’s exactly what an Australian digital creator and YouTuber, Stanley Chen, set out to check when he created a fake fine dining ramen restaurant. And to his surprise, there were around one hundred customers lined up for the ‘ramen forest’ experience.
In a recent viral video on Instagram, which garnered over 23.8 million views, Stanley Chen explains how he created a fake five star ramen restaurant in just seven days, and the twist? It was just instant ramen. He explains in the video why he set out to do this experiment. “I once worked in a restaurant that marketed all their food as fresh. Turns out everything they actually served had been made the week before.”
Chen started off by creating a website for the restaurant which said the restaurant offered “Experimental Omakase Ramen experience available only for 2 nights every year”. He then named the restaurant ‘Nise Jangaru Ramen’. The word Nise means fake in Japanese and Jangaru Ramen is a Japanese brand, Chen said in the YouTube video.
The next step in his plan was marketing. Chen first sent out emails to food influencers to promote the restaurant. To avoid any legal issues, Chen clearly mentions in the emails (to the influencers) that the ramen will be offered to them for free.
And then came the major step in creating the fake restaurant that changed everything, TikTok marketing. The promotional video on TikTok for the restaurant garnered over 200,000 views. “The TikTok went so viral that I started only letting in influencers who had over 100,000 followers. Everyone else would have to wait outside,” he explained in his viral Instagram video.
Chen, along with some friends then bought 70 servings of instant ramen that cost him approximately $3 Australian dollar (Dh7) per packet. Chen explains in his video that they even got a DJ to play “Nature noises” to elevate the “ramen forest” experience. They announced, “We’re a bold experimental ramen restaurant. And we don’t serve a traditional menu. It’s all omakase, and we determine what you eat based on your aura.” When in fact everyone would be eating the same thing.
In his YouTube video he mentioned that some customers were waiting outside the restaurant since 4pm. With the help of his friends, they served all 70 servings of the instant ramen. In the YouTube video, some customers are seen praising the food.
When placing a customer’s ramen in front of them, Chen lies saying it was a “foie gras base” ramen to which the customer excitedly replies, “That’s exactly the one I wanted. How did you know?”
Some customers even said the note they have for the chef was, “To make me another bowl.” While another customer said, “It was different. Mine was a bit creamier, and it works well. Like Japanese Italian.”
Another customer replied, “I think it’s really worth lining up. I really liked it.”
Netizens on social media, however, said Chen could’ve profited from it. One comment said, “Bro could’ve made millions but decided to expose himself.”
Another comment said, “Proof that marketing is never about the product, but how it makes you feel, that makes the money.”
