Let’s rip the band aid off quickly: Prices are going to change on the original 3 Vite Ramen flavors to match Sichuan Chili Edition. There’s a way to lock in current prices though, so read on!
Here’s a quick overview of the changes:
• Vite Ramen 6 pack: $30.50 to $34.94
• Vite Ramen 9 pack: $40.91 to $49.91
• Naked Noods and Sichuan Chili Edition aren’t changing!
We’re here to explain why, since after all, we want to be as transparent as possible with everything.
As many of you know, 2020 was an especially rough year, probably for everyone. Anyone interested in the wild set of things that happened to us can check out my 2020 recap, The Light At the End of the Tunnel Is Actually a Fire.
2021 started, and it... didn’t get much better. I mean, it did get better, but only kinda. I’m sure you understand. We’re still facing delays here and there, but we have more preventative measures in place, more safeguards against everything from supply chain delays to wildfire safety, to COVID prevention, to all sorts of other things to help things run better and smoother.
More importantly, we still believe in pricing for ethical business, and even after all that 2020 has thrown at us, it’s still our mission to create our ramen ethically and continue paying living wages. We’re committed to keeping up the health, well being, and safety of our team - the price increase directly allows us to account for the increased materials costs of our ingredients, inflation, and accommodations for our employees.
An excerpt from last year’s blog postthat still rings true today: “One of the best lessons I’ve ever learned from that class is that labor, just like everything else, has externalities that need to be addressed. I’m not going to get too technical here, but we can’t just classify labor, and therefore people, as a neat function on a graph with aggregate supply and demand, and plot things that way. There’s many more factors involved, including, but not limited to, things like training, worker health(both physical and mental), safety, and most importantly, happiness.”
This is our way to ensure that we can help maintain a happier work environment (and let’s be honest, better pay is one of the biggest factors), hedge against future challenges, and provide better service for y’all at the same time. This does not mean that prices will be raised every year - just a reflection of the challenges we’ve been facing and a desire to adequately prepare for the future.We also have some very good news for our regulars though!
We’ll be honoring legacy subscription prices for the original 3 flavors - if you’re currently an active subscriber, your price will remain exactly the same for as long as you’re subscribed, which will roughly be a savings of 26% off the new price!
And if you've previously subscribed - we’re going to be honoring previous subscriber’s prices for the next two weeks (until 11:59PM PST Feb 28th) if you’d like to resubscribe at current prices!
We hope that you understand and thank you for your continued support, and as always, will be able to answer any questions that you may have!
— Tim and Tom