Genji History:

Genji started out as a restaurant in Philadelphia, named after the title character in “The Tale of Genji,” the first Japanese novel ever written. This little restaurant at 1720 Sansom Street, owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. Omori had been a home-town favorite for many years. When Whole Foods Market began to open stores in Philadelphia, in 1997 they visited many local sushi restaurants to find the best and most authentic establishment. After discovering Genji, and observing the high quality and freshness of the ingredients and the craftsmanship of their sushi chefs, the Whole Foods team approached Mr. and Mrs. Omori to see if they would be interested in operating a few sushi bars within the Whole Foods stores. The family welcomed the opportunity, and quickly found that many Whole Foods Market customers are huge sushi fans who also appreciate quality, freshness, authenticity and customer service. These became the founding values upon which Genji was built.

As Whole Foods Market grew, so did the number of Genji sushi bars -- nearly 50 in less than 8 years! In 2005, Mr. and Mrs. Omori decided to sell the company and return to managing their beloved restaurant. At that time, a privately-owned Japanese sushi chain offered to take over the rapidly expanding sushi bar business. As the demand for superior quality sushi grew in the US, and as Whole Foods Market grew, Genji was privileged to be the sushi vendor of choice in one store after another. As the years progressed, we changed our name from “Genji Express” to a simpler “Genji,” standardized our recipes and sought out the best vendors, and created an unrivaled training and development program to teach our chefs to make sushi with the same skill and attention to detail as sushi chefs in Japan.

Today, Genji operates over 130 sushi bar locations in 18 states, the District of Columbia and in the United Kingdom, and is the largest sushi vendor within the Whole Foods Market chain. Our 700 chefs undergo rigorous training to reach the top of their craft, and continuously maintain exceptional food safety scores, and unsurpassed customer service. We’ve opened many more stores and have welcomed even more team members to the family over the years, but we still stay true to the values that our founders established: uncompromising quality, freshness, authenticity and customer appreciation.