Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think this is unique to Ramen at all. Burgers should not cost $20-30 for some limp smooshed beef, a burrito should also not be $15-20, and tacos should sure as hell not be $3-5 per tiny taco. It's all bullshit; none of that food is worth that money. But... I suspect it costs that much because people pay that much, and because the cost of every other aspect of service puts pressure on the restaurants to try to…
Last I checked, restaurants actually do run on razor thin margins. A fraction of the costs is food - IIRC on average about a third. Most of it is rent (typically very high in places where you’d have foot traffic) and labor (pretty labor intensive sector for a given output).
Except maybe for the hyped influencer places which always have a queue. But which, unfortunately, also almost always serve terrible food with terrible service (hygiene...).
You don't open a restaurant to become rich... or to have the easy life. The owner of one of my favourite "mom & pop" takeout places once told me that even though they're only open for 6 hours a day on weekdays, with all the shopping, cleaning, preparation, paperwork etc. he's still working six and a half days a week (he's the only chef).