Feng Sushi is a UK-based restaurant chain known for advocating sustainable fish farming. The company was founded in 1999 by chef Silla Bjerrum and chef Jeremy Rose, with restaurant entrepreneur Luke Johnson the majority owner since 2010. Bjerrum has been credited by Caterer and Hotelkeeper Magazine as being "...part of the movement that brought sushi to the mainstream".

History

The chain's first outlet opened in Fulham, London in 1999. Bjerrum had previously been employed at London's Nippon Tuk restaurant, owned by Rose. Following Nippon Tuk, Bjerrum worked for club entrepreneur

Robin Birley Robin Birley may refer to: * Robin Birley (archaeologist) (1935–2018), English archaeologist * Robin Birley (businessman) Robin Marcus Birley (born 19 February 1958) is an English businessman, entrepreneur and political donor. He is the son of ...

before being asked by Rose to become a partner in the creation of Feng Sushi, with Rose taking New-York style delivery services as inspiration. In 2008 Rose stepped down from the company and Bjerrum became MD.

Sustainability

The company has policies relating to

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...

and organic aquaculture. Feng Sushi's stated position is to sell sushi made only from sustainably-sourced fish. The chain does not sell

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

blue fin tuna Bluefin tuna is a common name used to refer to several species of tuna of the genus ''Thunnus ''Thunnus'' is a genus of ocean-dwelling, ray-finned bony fish from the mackerel family, Scombridae. More specifically, ''Thunnus'' is one of five ge ...

, further to the view that both species have been severely overfished. According to the

International Seafood Sustainability Foundation International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) was formed in 2009 as a global, non-profit partnership among the tuna industry, scientists and World Wide Fund for Nature. The multistakeholder group states its mission is "to undertake scien ...

(a global, non-profit partnership between the tuna industry, scientists, and the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

), Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna, Pacific Ocean (eastern & western)

bigeye tuna The bigeye tuna (''Thunnus obesus'') is a species of true tuna of the genus ''Thunnus'', belonging to the wider mackerel family Scombridae. In Hawaiian, it is one of two species known as ahi, the other being the yellowfin tuna. Bigeye tuna are f ...

, and North Atlantic

albacore The albacore (''Thunnus alalunga''), known also as the longfin tuna, is a species of tuna of the order Perciformes. It is found in temperate and tropical waters across the globe in the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones. There are six distinct sto ...

tuna are all overfished. In April 2009, no stock of

skipjack tuna The skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'') is a medium-sized perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae. It is otherwise known as the balaya (Sri Lanka), bakulan/kayu (North Borneo), tongkol/aya (Malay Peninsula/Indonesia), aku (Hawaii), cakal ...

(which makes up roughly 60 percent of all tuna fished worldwide) was considered to be overfished. Its

yellowfin tuna The yellowfin tuna (''Thunnus albacares'') is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. Yellowfin is often marketed as ahi, from the Hawaiian language, Hawaiian , a name also used there for the closel ...

dishes are pole and line caught and are reportedly the restaurant's only ingredient to be shipped in by air; scallop dishes are sourced by hand-diving and the firm's cooking oil is collected and made into biodiesel. The chain is a founding member of the

Sustainable Restaurant Association The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is a not-for-profit, membership organisation, based in the United Kingdom, which aids food-service businesses to work towards sustainability in their sector and guides customers towards more sustainabl ...

. Bjerrum began

sustainable sourcing Globalization of supply chains and pressure to lower production costs have negatively impacted environments and communities around the world, especially in developing nations where production of high demand goods is increasingly taking place. Since ...

after a visit to a Scottish salmon farm in 2001, where she was disturbed by the standard of animal welfare: :"When I was on the walkway the salmon were rattling the cages and seemed so generally unhappy. It forced me to reconsider where I got my salmon from." Bjerrum is a frequent media commentator on the topic of sustainable fishing in the restaurant industry. She has characterised sustainability as "...an insurance for the

fish restaurant Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

business...Future supply issues are real."

Operations

As of May 2013, Feng Sushi operates from eight sites:

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

Borough Market Borough Market is a wholesale and retail market hall in Southwark, London, England. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, with a market on the site dating back to at least the 12th century. The present buildings were bui ...

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

Notting Hill Gate Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name. Location At Ossington Street/Ke ...

Chalk Farm Chalk Farm is a small urban district of north London, lying immediately north of Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden. History Manor of Rugmere Chalk Farm was originally known as the Manor of Rugmere, an estate that was mentioned in ...

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, next to the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Alber ...

Billingsgate Billingsgate is one of the 25 Wards of the City of London. This small City Ward is situated on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in the south-east of the Square Mile. The modern Ward extends south to the ...

and

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage to ...

. In 2009 it reported a turnover of £5m from six sites, employing 150 staff. Approximately half of the group's turnover is derived from online sales.

Awards

2012 - ''Sustainable City'' award, chosen by

Raymond Blanc Raymond Blanc OBE (born 19 November 1949) is a French chef. Blanc is the chef patron at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the ''Good Fo ...

and awarded for sustainability in takeaway food. 2013 - Sustainable Restaurant Association's ''Award for Innovation''.

References

External links