 |
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fast casual restaurant |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder | Julian Metcalfe |
| Headquarters | London, England, UK |
Number of locations | 77[1] |
Key people | Clive Schlee |
| Products | Food |
Number of employees | 852 (2020)[2] |
| Website | www |
itsu (いつ/itsuisJapanese for whenever) is a British chain of East Asian-inspired fast food shops and restaurants and a grocery company.[3] The company offers franchises.[4]
The chain was founded by Julian Metcalfe, co-founder of sandwich chain Pret a Manger, in partnership with Clive Schlee.[5]
In 2006, following the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, traces of the deadly isotope Polonium-210 were found at the Piccadilly branch of Itsu in London, where Litvinenko had dined on the day he was poisoned.[6][7]
The first itsu restaurant opened in Chelsea, London in 1997. In September 2013, itsu opened its first restaurant outside London, in Oxford.[8]
In January 2016, itsu opened its first Northern England restaurant, in Spinningfields, central Manchester.[9] The chain later opened a branch in Leeds.
As of 2022[update] itsu had 76 restaurants in England, including 54 in London (44 in February 2023), and one in Brussels Airport, Belgium.[10]
In June 2018, the company opened a branch in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, US.[11] In February 2023 itsu's Web site listed Brussels and Paris as the only non-UK locations; the US Web page was dead.
In March 2012, Metcalfe's Food Company, run by Robert Jakobi, launched the itsu brand into retail[12] under the name itsu [grocery].
In January 2014, itsu became the official partner of the Volleyball England Beach Tour,[13] but was not listed on the UKBT Web site as of 2021.[14]
