'its' our story'

eat beautiful ...

I first visited Tokyo in the winter of '94 and fell in love with the harmony and precision of the food, every bento was a work of art.

If beautiful food, fast was humanly possible then Japan was leading the way (70,000 people there are over one hundred years old).

I returned home determined to create a new kind of food place altogether.

I had no idea how hard it would be, but itsu Chelsea, London opened in 1997, itsu Soho three years later, followed by 75 more over the next 20 years. New York 2018 and Paris 2022.

beautiful food....

Most of our Asian-inspired menu is under 500 (good) calories and packed with vitamins, fibre and protein, a third of our dishes are plant-based and the vast majority costs under £7.

But it's still delicious and fast. We often give away free lunch to loyal customers kept waiting more than 90 seconds. 

beautifully done... 

Every itsu must have its own kitchen, making nutritious dishes which are steamed (never fried) and made on the spot with responsibly sourced ingredients. 

We have a half-price sale every evening to avoid food waste.

itsu's wonderful teams are committed to beautiful food, beautifully done. We pay them as much as we can afford, rather than as little we can get away with. They are our heart and hope for a bright future. 

25 years and counting...

After 25 years, itsu's original shareholders, operators & senior staff still own and control 70% of the entire company. Global investment firm Bridgepoint bought a minority 30% stake during the pack of the Covid crisis in early 2021.

Our shareholders and staff take a long term view to our menu development, our responsibilities generally & especially the well-being of our customers and employees past, present and future. 

I promise we'll stay restless for another twenty years

enjoy health & happiness...

More often than not, enlightened folk in the East pursue health & happiness by eating beautifully. For over twenty years, we've been putting our Asian-inspired healthy, affordable and delicious dishes within reach of ever more loyal customers. 

itsu is already 38% plant based, 90% HFSS compliant, and the vast majority of our dishes cost just £5-£7 a head.

butterfly light....

Our modern menu is light and packed with protein, wholegrain brown rice and vegetables.  Each of our hot pots contain up to 17 different fibre-rich nutritious greens & herbs. 

We go to great lengths to prepare wholesome vitamin-rich ingredients in every itsu which are steamed, not deep-fried; our sashimi grade fresh fish is delivered on ice during the night and batches of chargrilled chicken are marinated in Nagano miso, made from paste, not powder. 

more of a restaurant....

Preparation in itsu kitchens requires skill, patience and plenty of fragile ingredients; this makes us more of a restaurant than a fast-food joint. Did you know at least three noodle bars in Tokyo have won coveted Michelin stars?

Inspired by fresh food places in Japan, please don't miss our evening sale which helps reduce waste and guarantees value.

Claudia, our grocery boss, insists her food is clean, meaning as natural as possible; she also says 99 isn't 100, which is lost on some but not for long. 

Health and happiness is our mantra, health because our food is nutritious and light; happiness because it's not rabbit food. 

nurture the family tree..

At itsu, we do things with an almost comical degree of commitment. This includes building state of the art sushi and hot kitchens in every itsu, complete with fish (pros), rice (pros), team leaders, red hats, and frequent graduations. 

Each member of the team forms part of what we call the family tree and every itsu has one.  We pay as much as we can afford rather than as little as we can get away with. 

Making fresh and healthy food in each itsu kitchen (rather than centrally) is what our customers demand and expect. Despite being challenging, this high standard gives our food the edge and encourages huge respect & pride within our teams, as well as between us & local people. 

love and care

itsu's been built and is run exclusively by homegrown talent; people who look forward & upward, more than they look down.

For instance, our grocery boss started with us as a young intern and within three years took the helm;  she has nourished and encouraged many unsung heroes on their ascent of itsu.

walking on the moon

Most of our directors, managers & nearly all our team leaders started, like our founder, on the shop floor, learning the detail. Our first training academy, a single room above the first itsu, has grown to incorporate digital training, multiple courses and thousands of How To guide illustrations celebrating best practice. 

Exciting, nutritious and affordable food on the high street is unexpected, but so was walking on the moon back in 1969. It's taken longer than we planned but our progress is in harmony with our customers' needs. 

If you believe something is possible, you can make it so; or at leave have a go. 

now and forever

Convenience, affordability and reassuring quality aren't much good without sustainability. As the world is unlikely to slow down it's up to us to speed-up.

At itsu, we make and serve dishes locally from itsu's on-site kitchens, our waste is amongst the lowest in the industry. We steam rather than deep-fry and our rubbish is either recycled or converted into energy to go back to the national grid. 

again and again

Our green top recycling bins prevent contaminated waste and all our cardboard packaging was amongst the first to go MEPC, as were our lids made from recycled material. 

In harmony with the demands of our customers and staff, we pioneered the reusable metal spark as well as our pair of infinitely recyclable aluminium flasks. 

Customers helped us design and build the first card sushi dipping pot, saving untold amounts of plastic. We are managing to reduce our power-hungry chillers by 70% and even remove electricity and water-guzzling industrial washing-up machines. 

Please enjoy many more unique stories regarding our commitment to sustainability on itsu/ milestones.