_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hana Group
“ Our growth has mostly occurred naturally and organically. Sainsbury’ s was our first ever client, and we still have a very strong relationship with them, having renewed our contract several times and now operating Sushi Gourmet counters in over 170 stores. We also work with Marks & Spencer( M & S), currently with Mai Sushi kiosks in over 30 stores, and there are lots of growth plans in discussion. To boost our presence in the US, the group acquired an American brand with counters in Whole Foods stores a decade ago. Recently, the US team enjoyed successful new openings at Walmart. We also partnered with Dunnes Stores to expand into the Irish market, where we now have over twenty kiosks with significant growth planned with all partners.”
Brand personality
Despite operating several brands within the same sector, Hana prides itself on creating unique personalities for those brands.“ Each individual brand is more than just a name; it’ s an exclusive offering to each retailer with its own product range and personality,” Jason elaborates.“ Within Mai Sushi for M & S, for instance, we’ ve chosen a set of categories that associate colors with product characteristics like spice, fish content, or dietary preferences. We’ ve carried this color scheme through to the product branding and labeling so that customers can easily recognize their favorites or identify something new to try, and the sushi itself is also very colorful to align with the kiosk design. We’ ve also experienced huge success with Sushi Gourmet in Sainsbury’ s stores, having modernized the brand and incorporated social media to interact with customers and drive brand engagement.
“ Sushi Gourmet offers classic Japanese sushi hand rolled with crisp vegetables and hand carved quality fish, but our products differ across other concepts to suit each market. At our kiosks within Whole Foods,
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