An Algonquin small medium enterprise management (SME) graduate is making ramen that will put your Mr. Noodle to shame.
Koichi Paxton was inspired to start his own business after travelling through Europe for three years. Prepared to go to university, Paxton’s friend advised that college was the way to go if he wanted to study entrepreneurship.
“From there, I looked at Algonquin’s SME program and it was quite clearly the one I was looking for,” he said.
Professors in the program recommend that their students start businesses while in school so that they can seek advice and get real experience. Paxton decided to start a Kijiji-type website for artists to post and sell their art.
“Within the year, I realized I just wasn’t passionate enough about it,” he said. “I learned that art is emotional and it’s hard to create that emotion through a computer screen.”
From there, Paxton started thinking about what his next business venture would be. Since his childhood, he had always loved ramen.
“I wondered why there weren’t any ramen restaurants in Ottawa, maybe I hadn’t heard of them,” he said. “When I tried to look them up, I quickly found out there were none and I knew I had to pursue this.”
“You can’t even compare what I’m cooking to a cup of noodle you get at the grocery store.”
Paxton knew a lot about eating ramen, but he didn’t know a lot about cooking it. Through friends, Paxton arranged to go to Kurume on Kyushu Island in Japan to start an internship at a ramen restaurant there and learn from the experts.
After four months in Kurume, Paxton moved to a restaurant in Fukoka and another in Tokyo.
Finally, it was time to come back to Ottawa and figure out what to do with the knowledge he had acquired. Without enough capital to start a business, Paxton decided to go to work. He got himself a job at Hino’s on Wellington, a Japanese restaurant where he could practice some of his skills.
To get the word out about his food, Paxton started doing pop-up kitchens in his friends’ homes. In August of 2013, Hino’s allowed Paxton to do a pop-up kitchen with his ramen recipe in the restaurant.
“We planned for 50 people and we completely sold out,” he said with a smile. “It was my first large-scale event.”
With the success of the pop-up kitchens tucked under his belt, Paxton registered for Noodle Fest in February. It was at Noodle Fest that Paxton was able to make connections with restaurant owners. Paxton made a connection with a restaurateur who started his career.
“He really believed in me and my product,” he said. “He said I could start cooking my broth in a restaurant he was starting and that if it went well we could open another location for me.”
The restaurant that was being opened was named Ginza, a location on Elgin Street that would be selling pho. Sales of Paxton’s ramen quickly rose. Within a month, Paxton’s ramen sales were equal to the sales of the pho and plans to open Paxton’s own restaurant begun.
On May 20, Paxton’s own Ginza location was born in the heart of Chinatown, selling the comfort food recipe Paxton has slowly perfected.
“You can’t even compare what I’m cooking to a cup of noodle you get at the grocery store,” he said with a laugh as his waitresses and sous chefs nodded in agreement. “I’m not being arrogant, it’s just true. We prep this for three days, you just pour a cup of hot water over the grocery store stuff.
“It’s like comparing frozen pizza to what you’d get at Zazaza’s or something.”