Banff - Ramen Arashi
Both Ken and Yuji moved to Banff from Japan in the early 90s. Both started as tour guides and learned to love the Rockies. In the late 90s, both operated their own guide companies but in the early 2000s, with the downturn in Japanese tourism in Canada, both closed their companies and started to look to other industries for stable employment in the place they had come to call home.
Ken started to work in Japanese restaurants in Banff, and even owned a sushi restaurant in Nanaimo. While immersed in the restaurant culture, Ken noticed that there were very few Ramen shops in Canada that were true to the Japanese experience and seeing that there was a hunger for not only great Ramen but also that authentic experience, he returned to Japan to get some training in how to make Ramen.
He came back to Canada and approached Yuji with the idea of opening a ramen shop in Banff. Yuji, who proved to be amazing with business, and Ken with his gift for making amazing food, put their minds and efforts together to create the concepts and recipes that have been the cornerstone of Ramen Arashi’s success. On February 1st, 2017, the first Ramen Arashi was born.
