The JapCook story is primarily one of intuition; intuition on the part of its president and Eat Sushi* founder Mourad Benamer, that is, combined with the observation that for the past twenty years or so, the French have had an insatiable curiosity for the exotic flavours of Japanese gastronomy, an appetite that has intensified and shows no signs of waning.

Japanese cuisine and the great diversity that it offers have gradually become part of our eating habits and cravings. JapCook was founded in 2014 as a result of this trend and the experience Mourad Benamer had gained in the Japanese restaurant industry. The adventure continues, now, with JapCook, offering gourmet products and dishes borrowed from Japan’s popular culinary heritage.

Just like Proust’s madeleine, terms like kushiyaki, ramen, gyoza, torikatsu and yakisoba trigger among our Japanese friends memories of childhood, traditional festivals, rituals, picnics under the cherry trees and walks involving picking up various culinary delights from small shops and open-air stalls serving an array of tasty and timeless dishes. It is precisely this rich culinary heritage that inspires JapCook, adjusting it to the tastes of its customers and coming up with new flavour combinations based on a palette of painstakingly selected ingredients.

The diversity of the recipes JapCook creates, some classic, others more original, allows each professional to create their own menu that will appeal to lovers of traditional Japanese dishes and fusion cuisine alike. With the emphasis always very much on quality and innovation, JapCook offers an original culinary experience and a cultural journey to Japan that is sure to broaden our horizons!

* Eat Sushi is one of France’s leading Japanese restaurant chains.

Globalization has generated a complex supply chain which does not facilitate the understanding of the different steps.

JapCook has set itself the objective of reassure his customers and ensure a permanent link between the producers and the distributors to guarantee product quality and food safety for consumers. Transparency belongs integral part to the JapCook commercial strategy. The specifications of the products have to be understood by all the players: producers, sale managers, logistic manager and NPD manager.

Japcook carte logistique

Food quality and transparency are of the utmost importance to JapCook, which is why its teams constantly check with suppliers that the products meet all aspects of the specifications and all reasonable customer requirements, as well as complying with the legislation in force and the relevant regulatory and contractual specifications of the countries in which the goods are produced and to which they are to be shipped.

In addition to JapCook’s internal procedures, it has been calling upon the expertise of external auditors since 2017 to verify that its product creation and development, procurement and delivery chains all comply with IFS Broker standards. Food safety also requires knowledge of the industrial tools and raw materials used by JapCook’s partners, with regular site visits and onsite audits enabling the quality team to verify the validity of the relevant certifications, along with the compliance of the
industrial processes in place.

Product specifications must be accessible and understood by all players in the chain. Meat products are particularly stringently monitored, with JapCook carefully selecting its products, and notably the beef that goes into making its best-selling Yaki Gyu Chizu skewer, based on a series of specific criteria. JapCook also knows how to adapt to its customers’ requirements and can offer halal beef of various origins, as well as French beef (VBF). Poultry products, meanwhile, are monitored by means of supplier evaluation and numerous upstream inspections, with JapCook using only the best parts of the poultry, such as the leg and the fillet, in its products.

Special attention is also paid to the packaging of JapCook products, and the quality department ensures that the materials used right throughout the chain comply with the relevant regulations (free from Bisphenol A, for example) and are food-grade approved. The information displayed on the packaging is carefully reviewed and validated in close collaboration with the marketing department, with JapCook offering safe and aesthetic box and bag-based packaging solutions that reflect the image of its products.

Food quality and safety depend on the relevant sources, whatever they may be, being carefully controlled. Transparency, as a key factor in establishing a sense of trust, is also an integral part of JapCook’s DNA.