sustainability

our belief

At YO! we believe everyone deserves to eat in colour. We love the colour and variety of our oceans, forests and fields. We want to shake up every day eating with delicious Japanese food, while making sure that the world stays as colourful as it can be.

We're proud members of The Sustainable Restaurant Association and the Sustainable Seafood Coalition. We continuously strive to improve our sustainability performance by embedding sustainability into our business strategy and using the power and influence of our brand as a force for good.

our people

Our people are at the heart of our success. We will continue to foster an entrepreneurial and inclusive culture, while supporting the communities we operate in and serve.

our products

We look to serve great food that is healthy, delicious and responsibility sourced. We work closely with our suppliers and industry partners to constantly improve the traceability and transparency of our products.

our planet

Serving better food means doing so with a lower impact on the environment. We are working to minimise our impact by reducing our waste and carbon footprint across our supply chain, in our operations and in our consumer experience.

food waste

We take a firm stance against food waste, implementing innovative solutions at every step of our supply chain. Through efficient production processes, responsible inventory management, and collaborative efforts, we aim to reduce waste and ensure that our resources are utilized responsibly.

We partnered with To Good To Go in our YO! Restaurants: This is a food waste app that lets unsold food get rescued before it ends in the waste. Since we started we have saved over 319,988 meals. This is over 799.97 tonnes of CO2 saved.

Our Food Waste Targets:

• As we continue to gather data and insights on food waste, our objective is to establish measurable targets for reducing food waste within our Kiosks

• We are committed to implementing impactful and effective solutions that align with the food recovery hierarchy, in order to minimize our current food waste.

plastics, packaging and paper

In our commitment to delivering the freshest, highest quality food, we understand the importance of protecting the environments involved in the production, transportation, consumption, repurposing, and disposal of our food and products. Our approach revolves around the principles of reduce, re-use, and recycle, prioritizing these actions wherever feasible.

We prioritize minimizing our impact on natural resources and maximizing resource efficiency. To this end, we actively support the Plastics Pact initiatives in the United Kingdom. We are actively exploring collaborative opportunities with innovative suppliers and industry partners to address the demand for primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging and reduce our overall impact.

Our Packaging Targets

• All primary plastic packaging (trays/bowls/boxes/lids/bags) will be 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025

• 30% average post-consumer recycled content across all plastic packaging by 2025

• All unnecessary and problematic plastic will be eliminated by 2025

• All fibre-based packaging will be 100% deforestation free & FSC/PEFC certified by 2030

responsible sourcing

Fish
We're committed to responsible sourcing and all our seafood is rated 1-3 by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). All of Yo! Salmon is farmed and is certified to Global GAP. 67% of our Tuna is currently Marine Stewardship Council MSC. We are working with suppliers to secure and finalise full MSC certification for Tuna.

Eggs
We ensure that our eggs come from free-range sources. Additionally, we are actively working towards using free-range liquid eggs in our products, including mayonnaise.

Meat
Animal welfare is important to us at YO! and we continue to implement processes within our sourcing strategy to ensure that the protein products purchased meet our standards. Higher welfare for broiler chickens is a key area that we are supporting with significant resources. YO! does not process or raise chickens directly. We purchase from suppliers, and it is our responsibility to ensure that we partner with suppliers that are aligned with our commitment to higher animal welfare standards. We're proud to be supported by Compassion in World Farming, a leading global animal welfare NGO on this work. We believe for change to happen we need to work collectively as an industry. This is why we have signed-up to the European Chicken Commitment and pledge to continue to improve our welfare standards for each of our businesses. In 2022 we began to track supplier compliance against the Better Chicken Commitment standards and as of January 1, 2023 we are able to report on the following progress with our suppliers.

Stock Density - 31% compliant
Lighting 50 LUX - 43% compliant
Enrichment - 54% compliant
CAS - 69% compliant
3rd Party Auditing - 43% compliant
BCC Approved Breeds - 0% compliant

We had a goal to develop a detailed roadmap by the end of 2023. We are continuing this work by gathering the necessary information from our suppliers and working internally with cross functional teams to understand the opportunities and obstacles to create an achievable roadmap. To ensure that we publish a robust roadmap that we have confidence in, we will continue working with support from Compassion in World Farming to publish a detailed roadmap by late 2024.

Our Sourcing Targets

We prioritise responsible sourcing practices by partnering with suppliers who share our commitment to sustainability. We support ethical farming practices, promote animal welfare, and engage in sustainable fisheries. We proudly hold membership in The Sustainable Seafood Coalition (SSC), and our sourcing decisions are guided by their Codes of Conduct and implementation plans, which incorporate a thorough risk assessment process.

• 100% of tuna, salmon, shrimp and surimi certified responsibly, sustainably and ethically sourced by the end of 2023.

• 100% of other key ingredients (chicken, beef, rice, etc.) will be responsibly sourced by the end of 2025.

greenhouse gas & energy use

We continuously strive to minimize our greenhouse gas emissions and optimize energy consumption by implementing innovative and energy-efficient methods in our operations, to help us monitor and reduce our overall carbon footprint.

We have conducted a comprehensive assessment of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including Scope 1, 2, and 3, across our brand. This assessment has enabled us to identify areas where significant reductions can be made and has helped us prioritize our efforts within our operations and supply chain.

Our Energy Targets:

• Currently, we are working on obtaining more accurate and higher-quality data regarding emissions. Once we have this data, we will determine the most effective approach to setting an ambitious target that aligns with our growth.

• Our ambition is to achieve a Net Zero Commitment by 2050 as we continue to improve our environmental performance and reduce our impacts.

Conclusion

At YO! our commitment to sustainability is a driving force that shapes our decisions and actions. We embrace transparency, regularly assess our performance, and remain dedicated to continuous improvement. Together with our customers and partners, we strive to nurture a greener, more inclusive future—one delicious and sustainable meal at a time.

our sustainability policies

We regularly track and report on our sustainability data through standards such as Sustainable Seafood Association and plastic & packaging internal reforms to learn more about our sustainability initiatives please read our guide & policies.