itsu [grocery]

Company Profile

itsu [grocery] is one of the fastest-growing, privately-owned food companies in the UK, with its range of innovative, Asian-inspired, healthy food spanning across 6 supermarket categories, with 54 products and counting. Founder Julian Metcalfe first visited Tokyo in 1994 and fell in love with the harmony and precision of the food. Julian returned to the UK with one goal; a brighter future for fast food. The first itsu restaurant opened in 1997, there are now +75 stores around the UK with ambitious plans for global expansion. itsu [grocery] is responsible for bringing the much loved itsu restaurant brand, into supermarkets, health food stores and wholesale across the UK, Europe and beyond, with crispy seaweed thins, frozen gyoza & bao, brilliant’broths, miso’easy & rice’noodles to name a few. Driven by the entrepreneurial spirit of Julian Metcalfe, itsu [grocery] is known for revolutionising existing categories and disrupting the industry with its first to market products. The brand entered the frozen category in 2017 with their bestselling range of gyoza dumplings, driving an entirely new category of shoppers down the frozen aisle. Since then, their restaurant-quality frozen offering has expanded to 3 ranges, including bao’buns and noodles & gyoza meals, growing at 135% YOY . Now the leading gyoza and bao brand in the UK, itsu continues to champion the premium frozen food market, with new editions such as Teriyaki Chick’n Vegan Gyoza, and more NPD in the pipeline for 2021.