As the UK’s streets slowly get busier with shoppers and office workers, itsu – the Asian-inspired, healthy fast-food brand – has announced that it is opening an additional nine of its most popular stores on this Friday, 28 August.
The nine stores re-opening their doors will cater to a range of customers; from office workers popping into The Shard store on their lunchbreak, to busy shoppers picking up a sushi set from the Regent Street store. The full list is as follows: The Shard, Oxford Westgate, Jubilee, Stratford, Spitalfields, Piccadilly, Regent Street, Southward and City Road.
And to make things better, itsu is giving away 75,000 gifts to its loyal and hungry customers, including itsu’s coveted pink card. Entitling the owner to 50% off everything including sushi, broths and bao galore, the pink card is valid for three months; the same time that itsu stores were closed during lockdown.
With research into Brits’ post-lockdown dining desires having shown that sushi is the UK’s second most missed lunch, itsu introduced the giveaway as part of its reopening celebrations. As well as the pink cards, the brand will be giving out gifts such as free sushi boxes and itsu refill flasks to the first 1,000 customers back to each of its UK stores and restaurants, visiting stores or ordering via delivery.
What’s more, itsu has also unveiled nine new menu items for customers to try. Brand new recipes on the menu include the ‘Veggie meatballs & coconut pot’soup’, created in partnership with Meatless Farm; and rolling out nationwide are the 'itsu classics' sushi set and a ‘[low-carb] Japanese sushi salad’.
Founder Julian Metcalfe said, “It was heart-breaking for us to close in March, so the fact that we are reopening our doors just makes me well up with gratitude, I wanted to celebrate this big moment by giving back to our beloved returning customers.’ Metcalfe adds, ‘the itsu experience will feel different for some time to ensure team members and customers are safe”.
itsu will continue to execute its industry leading ‘hands and handles’ program, where all surfaces and hands are cleaned with disinfectant every 20 minutes, well within the safe time for bacteria and viruses to acclimatise. It will also continue to complete its extremely fast service model; promising to serve all customers in under 90 seconds.
On top of this, itsu stores have introduced a number of new initiatives to ensure maximum safety for all customers; hand sanitiser will be freely available and face shields will be worn by all team members. Customers will also be asked to pay for their food with card and contactless payment where possible.
Contactless delivery will also be available via Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat.