America Buys Most of Its Sushi From the Last Place You'd Expect

Americans are consuming more sushi than ever. And oddly enough, we have the nation's biggest grocery-store operator to thank for it.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Cincinnati-based Kroger, which also owns grocery chains including Ralphs, Smith’s, and Harris Teeter (in addition to a pending merger with Albertsons), is now the biggest sushi seller in America. The company sells more than 40 million pieces of sushi in an average year, and in doing so is helping turn the ubiquitous Japanese dish into a staple of American cuisine.

Kroger executives told the publication that shoppers are buying at least one million items from the sushi menu each week from its more than 2,700 stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia. As such, sushi has become one of the fastest-growing parts of the company, with demand growing even in rural areas where there haven't been many options until recently.

But Kroger isn't the only grocery chain cashing in on sushi. The consumer-research firm Circana Group has found that overall sales volumes of sushi sold at U.S. retailers are up more than 50 percent in the past four years alone, and dollar sales are up about 72 percent. It was when reviewing Circana data in 2020 that Kroger realized it had become the biggest sushi retailer in the U.S., and it has only continued to corner the market since. As such, two-thirds of Kroger retail locations now feature sushi sections.

"When customers think of sushi, we want them to think of Kroger," said chief merchant and marketing officer Stuart Aitken. The company's sushi business is estimated to generate between $400 million and $600 million in sales per year.

Popular sushi offerings also vary by region. California Krogers stores generally sell more options featuring fresh sashimi, while Ohio locations sell more rolls with imitation crab. In general, California rolls, including varieties such as classic, spicy and crunchy, remain a favorite among customers. And the company has begun to offer non-sushi dishes in many locations, including seaweed salads and poke bowls, that have also proven to appeal to Asian cuisine newcomers.

But lest anyone worry that Kroger and other chains might put traditional sushi restaurants out of business, quite the opposite is true. Mid- to high-end sushi restaurants obviously serve a different clientele than grab-and-go grocery store consumers looking for cheap options. Tatsuya Sekiguchi, a fourth-generation sushi chef at the upscale Tatsu Dallas restaurant in Texas that seats just 10 customer at a time, sees the trend as a positive.

"That is good because you want people to keep on wanting sushi," Sekiguchi said. "It is not a competition."