Ando is the founder of the worldwide famous organization Nissin Noodles.It is the biggest manufacturer of products like instant noodles,cup noodles and ramen noodles which are the most highly consumed food products in the market.
Early Life
Ando was born in the district of China in a Taiwanese family.Due to the early demise of Ando’s parents, he was brought up by his grandparents.They were a family of businessmen and had a small business of textiles which inspired him to open his own business one day.While he was still an economics student in 1933 he had ventured into the apparel industry and had his own company of apparels.
For his higher education, he had travelled to Japan to enroll in the Ritsumeikan University.It was during this time he opened a merchandising firm with whatever little he had received from his folks through inheritance.
Momofuku worked towards the spread of education among the children and had spent heavily towards the cause. However he was convicted for not paying his dues to the Government in the year of 1948. However the money had been spent for the noble cause of children’s education which was a form of tax evasion during that decade.
Achievements
The Instant Food Industry association was founded in 1964 and Ando was the founder. It was developed to regulate competition and pricing in the instant food industry. On the formation of this committee the production dates and the “fill to” lines became a part of the product packaging. This came forward as a huge step in assuring good quality products and helping the consumers with proper consumption of the products as well.
When his country was going through a period of famine and was heavily dependent on the supply of bread from the States, Ando decided to oversee the noodle supply himself as it was more suitable to the taste of the Japanese and made sure it was available cheaply and abundantly in the market.
The highly popular product The Cup Noodles was founded by Ando himself. After keen observation of the eating habits of the Americans, he had discovered that they were highly favourable towards instant noodles as a part of their daily meals and they preferred to consume it in cups instead of bowls and were more comfortable in using forks rather than using chopsticks. This is when the Styrofoam cup for eating noodles was introduced and became a huge hit in the market.
Ando has a museum named after him called the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum.
He has been given several awards and recognitions by the Japanese Government which includes The Rising Sun, The Gold and the Silver Star, Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon etc.
The United States even has a chain of restaurants which is named after him.
Personal Life
Ando had a wife and two children. He was himself a huge consumer of the ramen noodles and is believed to have consumed it till his last day. He was also an avid golf player and remained healthy and fit throughout his life and played golf every day.
Net Worth
Ando was extremely rich, he had a net worth of $100 million.
Death
Ando lived a long and healthy life and met his death at the age of 96 in Ikeda in 2007.