May 29, 2013 — Joii Sushi, a new supply company based in the U.K., has big ambitions to be the leading supplier to sushi chains and restaurants.
Set up earlier this year as a joint venture between long-time allies New England Seafood (NES) and French company Comptoirs Oceaniques (CO) Joii Sushi is headed up by the managing directors of both companies, with Dan Ahern (NES) taking the role of CEO and Alain Bailly (CO) as COO.
“We have done a lot of work to assess market size and opportunity, and estimate that total spend by UK restaurants on the sourcing of sushi ingredients is more than GBP 100 million (USD 151.1 million, EUR 116.8 million),” explained Dan Ahern. “It is a dynamic market growing at around 15 percent per year, with a strong following by young people, which gives the sushi concept longevity. It is also in need of good quality ingredients, which we are confident we can supply.”
At the heart of Joii Sushi is a supply of fully traceable, high quality seafood, which is what NES has built its reputation on. NES began selling premium grade tuna into the U.K. sushi market a few years ago.
“Tuna is the most challenging species for chefs and is more difficult to get right than salmon. Visual appearance and taste are particularly important, but tuna does not freeze well using standard methods, which can cause discoloration when the fish is defrosted. However, we source super frozen tuna, which was originally developed for the Japanese market, and we have a specialized defrosting process, which enables us to consistently supply a high quality product,” explained Ahern.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com