_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hana Group
shaped his approach to Hana.“ I fall into the unique category of‘ grocerant,’ a grocer and a restaurateur,” he says.“ I started my career as a chef with the Roux brothers, where I had the privilege of working with incredible ingredients in Michelin-star kitchens. Following a few board level roles in large high street restaurant groups, I then moved to M & S to look after their hospitality business, which eventually progressed into me taking on the counters too. I worked on an amazing project to transform M & S bakery counters and with triple digit growth, M & S thus gained significant market share. I loved my time in retail, but I equally loved being a restaurateur, and I wanted a role that combined these two areas.
“ I joined Hana in 2016, and I absolutely love my role. One of the most rewarding parts is seeing the genuine passion across our teams and supporting people as they develop their careers. As an example, we’ ve recently created some chef jackets with embroidered phrases, either‘ sushi expert’ or‘ sushi legend,’ which we award chefs after either five years for expert or ten years of service to become a legend. We traveled to our counters to hand these out, and it was amazing to see our employees’ pride in this accomplishment.“ We have exciting expansion plans underway with all our current partners, and we can double the size of our business even without a new partner. However, the sign of ultimate success would be to retain our rich culture as we grow. We know that people in the UK and Europe love sushi, and there are plenty of opportunities to grow as we continue to deliver healthy food that brings pleasure to our customers.” ■
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