Sushi & bento the Wasabi way

The Wasabi story began in 2003 when we opened our first branch in Embankment, London. Kim, a fresh food market trader in Camden, wanted to share his passion for fresh, authentic, handmade Japanese sushi and bento with ‘sandwich loving’ Londoners - he knew they’d love it.

From market stall to sushi hall

With a bright, clean, modern Japanese style, Wasabi presented a new lunchtime alternative of sushi, sashimi, California rolls and authentic Japanese dishes that proved immediately popular with hungry Londoners in search of something new, different and healthy. All people needed was the chance to sample quality sushi at an affordable price. His idea was both radical and unique: To be the first outlet in the UK that would sell individually wrapped pieces of sushi, offering customers a beautifully wide choice and the chance to truly experiment with the fresh delights of Japanese cuisine. Ten years on, with Kim still innovating, our friendly staff and modern outlets are the cutting edge of contemporary convenience food and still evoking the Wasabi way - to deliver a fast, flavoursome and affordable eating experience for everyone.

Our food sourcing

Wasabi is committed to ensuring that all products provided to its customers and consumers are of consistent quality, safe and fit for purpose. As a minimum, our sourcing will comply with the relevant safety standards, Codes of Practice and standards relevant to the countries in which we and our suppliers operate. We recognise the importance of supporting national production of fresh produce and meat. We will seek to support national growers and suppliers, avoiding use of air freight where possible, and also looking for opportunities to use seasonal fresh produce within our branches. We will also ensure that nationally sourced goods are given fair consideration in our product tender process, alongside other factors such as quality and price. We are committed to maintaining high standards of animal welfare and, as a result, we endorse the ‘Five Freedoms’ concept proposed by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC).

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)

The Wasabi Seiyaku (せいやく) Seiyaku, which translates to ‘pledge’ in Japanese, is key to Wasabi’s ESG strategy as we pledge to imbed a strong ESG ethos within the company and work towards achieving our Net Zero targets. Our ESG strategy is currently in development and our ESG report will be published will be published in April 2024.

Key achievements so far

  • 100% of the business is now running on renewable electricity.
  • Wasabi operate a zero waste to landfill policy.
  • Wasabi are partnered with Too Good to Go in order to reduce food waste. This prevented 52,652 meals being wasted in 2022.
  • Partnered with the Felix Project charity to prevent food from being wasted.
  • Reduction of packaging on grocery products with 99% of grocery packaging now being recyclable.
  • Fully recyclable grocery oven container introduced for our grocery products. Saving 76 tonnes of virgin plastic per annum across the business

Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go’s mission is to ‘inspire and empower everyone to take action against food waste’. The Too Good To Go app lets you buy and collect surplus food so it can be enjoyed instead of wasted. We have been working with Too Good To Go since June 2022 and are proud to have all Wasabi stores across the UK, part of this initiative, helping fight food waste. To get hold of a Wasabi magic bag, download the app to get started. You won’t know what’s in your order until you pick it up – it’s all part of the surprise!