Perfecting quality: Crafty Ramen partners with CFRIL to optimize frozen noodle texture

Tracy Butt, M.Sc., researcher

Crafty Ramen is a Guelph-based restaurant, noodle shop, and market. Founded in 2017 by Jared and Miki Ferrall, Crafty Ramen has expanded from a single restaurant location in Guelph to multiple locations around the Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo area, an e-commerce division, meal kit partnerships, and a selection of their ramen in major grocery stores.  

While preparing and serving fresh ramen at their restaurant locations is one thing, ensuring the same level of quality and consistency for customers nationwide who purchase their products in grocery stores presents a whole different set of challenges.

“We distribute our frozen ramen to over 300 grocery stores across Canada,” said Jared Ferrall, co-founder of Crafty Ramen. “It’s extremely important to us that our customers experience the same quality from that product that they would from coming to our restaurants.” 

To address this, Ferrall and Crafty Ramen sought the expertise of the Conestoga Food Research & Innovation Lab (CFRIL).  

Working with Crafty Ramen, CFRIL researcher Tracy Butt and student researcher Gurleen Kaur from the process quality engineering graduate certificate program spent eight months investigating the texture of Crafty Ramen’s frozen ramen noodle.  

“We had to first develop a standardized method to test the texture of the ramen noodles to support further testing and enable its transfer to Crafty Ramen for quality testing after the project,” Butt said. “That helped us establish a baseline for the optimal texture.” 

From there, CFRIL was able to study the impact of freezing the noodle has on the texture and quality, compared to the fresh version of the noodle. This data allowed them to establish a process or formula that would produce a frozen noodle comparable to the fresh version. 

Like any research project, this one experienced its share of scope adjustments as the Crafty Ramen and CFRIL team made new discoveries. But Ferrall says his experience working with CFRIL meant he knew they would still be able to produce beneficial results. 

“We knew from working with the CFRIL team before that they are able to pivot the direction of the project to achieve an outcome that still fulfills our needs.” 

Ferrall says that is just one advantage of working with CFRIL.  

“It’s a much more collaborative approach than previous projects. It felt like more of a partnership.” 

By the end of the project, the CFRIL team and Crafty Ramen were able to identify the optimal processes and procedures for creating the highest-quality version of their frozen ramen noodle. 

Although the project didn’t end up creating new formulations, Ferrall says the project still provided his team with valuable insights into their noodles.  

"We gained a better understanding of our noodles' production process, limitations, and possibilities." 

The Conestoga Food Research & Innovation Lab meets the needs of industry through education, training, research, and technical expertise. Its advanced facilities are essential in providing solutions for small, medium, and large businesses in the food and culinary sector.  

The focus is to work with partners to provide innovative solutions and support throughout the product development cycle, including formula development, shelf-life studies, packaging testing, and scale-up using pilot plant equipment.