The rising cost of produce has dealt a heavy blow to the local hospitality industry, reports Olivia Opara

Credit Olivia Opara

A well-loved local Japanese restaurant will stop selling sushi in May due to the rising cost of fish.

Last week, SushiHeads announced that it will no longer be selling sushi from 5th May due to problems with the cost and supplies of fish. The Japanese restaurant located on Phillip Lane made the announcement on social media and has received an overwhelming response of support from the community.

From the end of May, the restaurant will be offering a new menu with authentic homely Japanese food.

This decision came about after founder, Naomi Simpson, had fallen sick with shingles a couple weeks ago and realised that she had lost motivation and could not continue to sell sushi.

Naomi founded the restaurant seven years ago after being shocked by the quality of sushi sold in supermarkets and wanted to show the community what sushi in Japan is actually like. She has lived in the area since 2004 with her husband and son.

At first, Naomi enjoyed making and selling sushi made from good quality fish but as she got older it started to take a toll on her.

“I wanted to give up sushi a while ago but thinking about regular customers, I thought I could go on for a little longer,” Noami told HCP.

“But the prices for fish kept going up yet the quality was going down and people living in Tottenham expected a Tottenham price for Mayfair quality fish, so the profit margin kept getting smaller.”

Naomi has been running SushiHeads by herself with some assistance on weekends and over time she has seen the cost of salmon triple – with the cost of tuna increasing by 40-50%.

Naomi shared that she normally would buy about 15 kilos of tuna (including the unwanted bits) for approximately £40 per kilo and how time-consuming it is to clean and cut down the tuna. She also told HCP that because tuna changes colour very quickly, she has to throw it away if she does not sell it all.

Likewise, Naomi has to subscribe to buy wholesale and therefore has to pay for more supplies even when she has leftovers. Either way, she is making a loss.

“I am getting older, working longer hours and earning less than minimum wage. It was no longer enjoyable to sell sushi and I have been getting more and more tired,” said Naomi.

“It’s unfair because I cannot look after myself and when I want to try or learn new things, I can’t because I don’t have the time.”

Recently, Noami has also noticed a drop in the number of times her regular customers would buy sushi, with weekly regulars now only coming once every other week which she attributes to the cost-of-living crisis.

“I can see that they are concerned about what they can spend but they still want to eat my sushi,” said Naomi.

With the restaurant’s new menu, Naomi wants to showcase the different japanese foods and plans to introduce the community to onigiri (Japanese rice balls with meat or vegetable fillings) which she describes as “the soul food for Japanese people”.

Naomi will be selling 15 to 20 different types of onigiri fillings such as tuna mayo, miso pork, vegetable tempura and karaage mayo. She also plans to keep some of the hot dishes on the current menu that she was selling alongside sushi, as well as shifting to a lunch focused menu featuring lunch deals for children.

“I feel very sorry for my customers who really love my sushi but I hope that they will like the new menu.”

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