Better Than Bouillon® and A-Sha Foods USA are joining forces on Better Than Ramen™, a limited-edition at-home ramen kit set to hit select Southeast Costco locations on August 3, 2026. The collaboration merges Summit Hill Foods' flavor-concentrated bouillon heritage with A-Sha's Taiwanese-style Air-Dried, Never Fried® noodles, a product rooted in a time-honored recipe the brand has long championed as a premium alternative to conventional instant noodles.

The Product

The kit is designed to deliver restaurant-quality ramen to consumers at home — a positioning that speaks directly to the continued blurring of foodservice and retail channels that restaurant operators and food manufacturers have watched accelerate since the pandemic. By anchoring the product to Better Than Bouillon's reputation for rich, premium ingredients and A-Sha's artisan noodle credentials, both brands are betting that shoppers will pay attention to what's in the bowl, not just how fast it cooks.

Retail Strategy

Launching exclusively through Costco — even on a regional, limited-edition basis — signals a deliberate go-to-market approach. Warehouse club distribution puts the product in front of bulk-buying households and small foodservice operators who routinely stock pantries from Costco's aisles. For food and beverage brands navigating retail placement, a Costco exclusive also functions as a high-visibility proof-of-concept before any potential broader rollout. The Southeast-only footprint for this launch keeps the test tightly controlled while still generating regional consumer data. Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked growing interest in premium pantry kits as a bridge category between foodservice-inspired eating occasions and everyday grocery shopping — a trend that makes this partnership timely for both brands.

What Operators Should Watch

For restaurant professionals, the Better Than Ramen™ launch underscores how ingredient brands are increasingly leveraging their foodservice credibility to compete in the at-home premium segment. Better Than Bouillon has long been a back-of-house staple, and its pivot to co-branded consumer kits reflects how foodservice-aligned brands are chasing the same consumers who eat in their dining rooms. Whether this limited run converts into a permanent SKU will likely depend on how Southeast Costco velocities perform through the back half of 2026.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.