Meet the vendor: Wasabi

We're really excited to announce our new partnership with Wasabi, bringing delicious sushi and bento to offices around London! We caught up with Joao Marques, Wasabi's Digital Marketing Manager, to find out a little bit more about London's beloved sushi chain.

Tell us a little bit about the story behind Wasabi.

The first Wasabi began in 2003 when our founder, Kim, opened the 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. 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.

Since March, it’s been a really tough time for food businesses. How did lockdown affect the company?

During lockdown we looked at other ways of getting wasabi to our customers. We increased our home bento range available at Sainsbury’s and are proud to have delivered over 63,000 meals directly to frontline workers. This was a combination of meals we donated directly through our own delivery drivers and also Feed Our Frontline - a coalition of restaurants and suppliers who have worked together to provide meals to frontline NHS workers during the peak of the coronavirus crisis. As we started reopening our stores from the 4th of July we also improved our availability on delivery platforms such as Just Eat for Business.

How has the Wasabi team prepared for reopening stores?

Our Health & Safety and Brand Standards teams has done a brilliant job in planning the reopening of our stores. They are at the heart of everything we are doing to keep our teams and customers safe in these extraordinary times. Thanks to them and the field teams we are able to keep up with any changes needed if there is new government advice. We had a first phase where stores reopened for takeaway and delivery only and during a second phase we started to reopen seating areas where social distancing is possible.

We’re really excited to have Wasabi available for office deliveries through Just Eat for Business. How important are corporate orders for Wasabi?

We have been a favourite of the London office worker for lunch for years and this has been key to expanding and opening more restaurants. From all sizes of sushi sets to mouth-watering hot bento dishes and salads, we believe there’s something for everyone to enjoy and there's always a new flavour to explore. Launching corporate orders properly has been at the forefront of our thinking as we wanted to give our customers the same quality and freshness they can expect in our stores without leaving the office.

Last but not least, what’s your favourite dish on the menu?

I love the freshness of our sushi but my favourite is our Chicken Katsu Curry. I have been ordering it for years, long before I joined the company and I still haven’t found a better one.

Want to order Wasabi directly to your office door? Take a look at the menu by clicking the button below.