Where Ramen Meets Nostalgia

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with John Lawyer, owner of RamaMama, located in Fort Collins, CO, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My business is an 80's and 90's themed small craft ramen shop. Our main customer demographic age range is 25-45. We tend to bring in people that are more locally focused and lean more towards life being relaxed and fun.

Tell us about yourself

I've been in this industry for 30 years, starting when I was 12 years old. It wasn't until I was in my early 20s that I decided that I wanted to pursue this industry professionally. From that point forward, I pushed hard to excel and move up the ladder from the bottom to the top until I was able to pursue an ownership opportunity. My food background has always leaned towards Asian cuisine, and I've always admired that culture. It wasn't until later in life that I connected the dots as to why, and that was due to my family culture, how my parents lived in Japan, and how my mom raised my brothers and me around a lot of Asian traditions when we were young. This just helped reinforce my already large amount of love for this food and culture.

The concept for this business is purely my childhood, the late '80s and early '90s, with that classic Saved by the Bell feel, but we serve ramen. To me, it all makes sense as it's a flashback to my own life, but it can also be hard to understand without the context of the backstory. The goal of this concept was to try and create a fun craft ramen shop where we make everything in the traditional manner the right way but also focus on making it more reasonably priced (which has been a huge struggle with all the inflation). The love for ramen and the love for creating new bowls and flavors, on top of seeing so many people happy and enjoying this food, is what drives me every day to do the best I can.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Being an owner isn't easy at all, and so much has changed in this industry since the start of COVID that has made this job ten times harder. Just being in business on the back end of COVID is an accomplishment on its own, but personally, what I'm most proud of is how I'm involved in my business on a daily basis. I'm not an owner that just manages employees, makes money, and enjoys their life with minimal effort. I'm in my kitchen doing all the prep work and creating all the recipes, training employees, and being the example that I wanted when I was younger. My wife and I have multiple food service businesses, and we both strive to be leaders and examples for our employees, so much so that our employees make comments to us to take time off and relax because we work every day. Having employees that care about us as people, not just employers, just confirms that what we are doing and how we are doing it means something. And that's a massive accomplishment for me.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

By far, it's dealing with the ever-changing dynamics of this business. I've been in this industry for long enough to know the trends and understand how things ebb and flow. But once COVID hit and over the past three years, it's completely turned everything I knew upside-down. Trying to stay up with the crazy fluctuations of food costs, operational cost increases, COVID health concerns, as well as the changes to our employee's mindset within this industry has been so challenging. Every week is some new issue or concern that I try to understand, open up dialog, and find solutions that make sense and keep employees happy. I love problem-solving, but it's just been an uphill battle to keep up with, and it's tough seeing some businesses close their doors because they've struggled to figure it all out.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Be adaptable. If you can't be adaptable or flexible, your time will be short-lived in this industry specifically but also in almost any industry.
Be human. Everyone has things that happen in life. Even as an owner, things happen. Not being sympathetic or understanding when things happen will only cause your employees to not be sympathetic to your business and you as an owner.
Never think you know everything. Even if you're the smartest person in your business, never be that person who acts or says it. When you are that person and mess up or make a bad decision, it won't go unnoticed by your employees, and that will ultimately chip away at the effectiveness of your management style. Plus, you're most likely not the smartest person, so being humble to learn and grow to be the best you can to be your goal.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.ramamama.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RamaMama2017/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ramamama_ftc/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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