The 2025 Englands Business Awards evening took place on August 17 and saw various businesses crowned best in their regional fields.
Amongst the winners was The Sushi Co in High Street, which was named the best restaurant and takeaway in Essex.
The Sushi Co franchise, which has “live sushi kitchens” serving “minutes fresh sushi” ,according to its website, was established in 2022 and the Brentwood branch was opened in March the following year by co-owners Aafaq Mughal and Zain Malik.
Aafaq Mughal (left) opened the Brentwood branch in March 2023 (Image: The Sushi Co) Aafaq told the Recorder: “There was definitely a gap in the market for sushi, and I knew the area well because I was the Essex area manager at Papa Johns.
“So when the opportunity arrived, I picked up this branch – it’s in a vibrant, multicultural area.”
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Businesses are nominated by customers and Aafaq revealed that customer care is the key to his success.
“I know how customer-oriented this field is,” he said.
“Many of our customers know us by name and face and will call us directly if they have any issues.”
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Haran Thushiharan, head of operations at The Sushi Co, added: “This award is an incredible honour for our team in Brentwood who work hard every day to satisfy our customers’ sushi cravings.
As The Sushi Co in Brentwood won the Essex award, it has been automatically put through to the national awards night which will take place on November 16 in Birmingham.
This takes each winner of the regional awards and sees one business crowned the best in England.
Aafaq said: “Everyone was working hard and motivated before this but everyone’s even more motivated and excited going forwards and now we’ve been moved into the grand final we’re working even harder to get that final award.”
