Rumplings

https://www.louisville.com/content/rump ... -beginning
Closed, but will reopen for Rumpfest.

I'd heard rumors of that but kind of discount of them because of how popular it was! It will be interesting to see what the new concept actually is.

How can you not make money selling noodles?

[Robin Garr]

I don't think it's just "selling noodles." It's "keeping up an insane all-night pace making outstanding ramen to high quality standards."

That, and the apparent original intent to run it as an "incubator" rather than a long-term operation, although i wish they had been more candid about that from the start.

Man, I am really disappointed about this! I had no idea...

Not buying that explanation at all.

You know, on my weekly trips to Bunz, I had noticed diminishing returns on the crowds there. I thought maybe the bloom was off the rose, or something had happened to the quality.

They seemed to be turning out a high quality product. I'm not really buying the whole "incubator-after-the-fact" story. If ramen was killing in that spot night after night for 7 months, I don't think you go "well, that was fun, let's try pierogies for the next 7 months."

Precisely correct.

The whole idea behind the incubator. If you read the article we said exactly the same. If Rumplings is killing it, we find another place to incubate and maintain Rumplings. Key word is killing it. We are looking for a smash. If it's not "killing it" then we move to the next concept. Whole idea behind its origin in the first place!

As someone who runs restaurants you should be astutely aware of the vagueness of the phrase "killing it".

We look forward to everyone coming to visit us at Epic Sammich Co!

Sad news, but it's good to hear that you are not giving up the spot Dustin.
Best of luck on the Sammie venture.

While I find it a touch frustrating as a customer to see it go, I would rather that they follow their muse(s) instead of coasting with a concept, so more power to them. I will wait and see what the menu looks like for the next place, as I'm not a big sandwich eater. However, they have earned the benefit of the doubt.

Understood Dustin, I think everyone is just kind of taken aback by the lack of disclosure to that point up front. Speaking for myself, I was invested more in Rumplings for the long haul as I thought it was filling an awesome niche. I get a different kind of excited when I know ahead of time that this might be a rotating spot. I think it is an "expectation v. reality" situation from my perspective.

I don't think it's just "selling noodles." It's "keeping up an insane all-night pace making outstanding ramen to high quality standards."

That, and the apparent original intent to run it as an "incubator" rather than a long-term operation, although i wish they had been more candid about that from the start.

Yeah but thats pretty much any restaurant making the food from scratch, right? Or maybe the ramen is more labor intensive than other types of food? I honestly don't know.

[Robin Garr]

Yeah but thats pretty much any restaurant making the food from scratch, right? Or maybe the ramen is more labor intensive than other types of food? I honestly don't know.

I'd say those guys were trying their best to channel a serious Japanese ramen shop, including making fresh noodles to order (albeit with a Kitchenaid pasta-maker attachment); and yeah, that's a lot more labor-intensive than fried chicken, subs or pizza. Also, running long hours late into the night and serving the Baxter Avenue Drinking Community might have made it both fun and ... interesting. They were serious, very serious, about quality, and I can understand their wish to have an appropriate payday.

Yeah but thats pretty much any restaurant making the food from scratch, right? Or maybe the ramen is more labor intensive than other types of food? I honestly don't know.

I'd say those guys were trying their best to channel a serious Japanese ramen shop, including making fresh noodles to order (albeit with a Kitchenaid pasta-maker attachment); and yeah, that's a lot more labor-intensive than fried chicken, subs or pizza. Also, running long hours late into the night and serving the Baxter Avenue Drinking Community might have made it both fun and ... interesting. They were serious, very serious, about quality, and I can understand their wish to have an appropriate payday.

It was quite demanding.
When I worked there, my job responsibilities were two things: noodles and dumplings.

I was working 55-60 hours a week to meet the noodle and dumpling demands of a 4 day a week restaurant, and that was with late night support to continue noodle making into the evening.


It's like having one guy at a burger place making all the buns and fries in house. And that's all he did.

When Rumplings first opened, I was making a production run of 75-150 lbs of noodles dough per day. Final capacity was 100-225 lbs a day. 18 seat restaurant. Mind you, in addition to the volume of dough, the dough was made off site at Roux, as there is no room for a commercial mixer in the Rumplings space. Factor in transit time, storage, forecasting dough production...
It was relentless. And as Dustin stated, looking for a "smash" here.
The intricacies of both the noodle and broth production made it a difficult concept to duplicate beyond those 18 seats without an extremely skilled set of talent.

Gotcha, makes sense, thanks for the info!