Ramen noodles have long been a college staple. A savory, salty solution for cash-strapped students with scant culinary skills, those single-serving packages now line a wall of a new South University convenience store, Ramen Run.
Customers can take them home for about $4 per pack, but most boil them on-site and add an array of mix-ins—dumplings, kimchi, boiled eggs, rice cakes, onions, mozzarella, and corn. The hot takeout meal is about $10.
Hamzah Sukkar, who took over the nearby Maize & Blue Deli from his retiring father and uncle in 2022, figured the concept would click in the campus district. After sampling from an H Mart supermarket, he used AI prompts to refine his choices on what Korean and other Asian snacks, ice creams, and drinks to stock. ”What are big hits in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, or East Asian countries? So that really helped out tremendously,” he says.
Relying on part-time student employees to keep shop, he’s reactivated a small storefront last held by the prepped meal service Primealete Nutrition. “It’s really hard to earn $10, $20 in today’s world. So I want people to feel like wherever they spend their money, they feel appreciated,” he says.
One of those employees, Seven Marin, cheerfully points out the most popular fruit-shaped ice creams, patiently counts the columns of noodle varieties (thirty-five), and shares a slice of life working there: “I remember one night specifically, it was like 10 p.m. It had been dead for an hour, and then I get twenty people walking in, and everybody lines up to make their ramen. As soon as they make it, they’re right there at the counter, they’re eating, the next wave is going to make their ramen, and everyone’s just grabbing stuff from the fridge …”
Sukkar hopes the enthusiasm continues after the campus area clears out for the summer. “Maybe our local Ann Arbor kids, in Ann Arbor Hills and Burns Park neighborhood and Kerrytown, maybe their families could come take a stroll and check us out and see if their kids will enjoy it, have nice outdoor patio seating, maybe get an ice cream bar, and just experience campus in another way,” he suggests.
Ramen Run, 1307 South University. Daily 11 a.m.–11 p.m. instagram.com/ramenrunramen
Got a retail or restaurant change? Email [email protected].