When Jo Goodkind's personal training business ground to a halt as a result of lockdown, she knew she needed another form of income. 

Fortunately, she had previously fitted a catering business around bringing up her three children under 13. She also had a particular penchant for sushi. 

 

“I was addicted to sushi about 14 or 15 years ago. I was eating it daily and spending a lot of money on it. I’d watch them rolling it and learned to do it for myself. Getting the rice right is key.”

 

She became so proficient, that friends and family, who she served her home made Maki rolls and other Japanese treats, suggested she start a catering business. Bamboo Sushi was born, and this went well until her children came along. “It was too hard to combine family life and catering.”

 

Over the years she stopped and started catering — both sushi and wider-ranging menus — eventually training as a personal trainer a couple of years ago. Which worked well until lockdown stopped the star jumps and squats. 

 

Needing to resurrect any sort of income, she turned to the catering again. “I wrote some set menus that I was offering a couple of times a week, and that was going well, but it was too much with home schooling the children.”

 

She hit upon the idea of self-assembly sushi, and swung into action. “I made a couple of videos explaining what you need to do, set up an Instagram account and got started in literally a couple of days.”

 

“The beauty of the kits are that the rice is done for you — you just have to heat it up and off you go” she says. 

 

It was a baptism of fire. “I sent a kit to a blogger with fifty thousand followers, and was inundated! I had to invent it as I went along. The early ones had very basic packaging and I’ve improved it as we’ve gone along.” 

 

Since inventing the concept five weeks ago, Goodkind has dispatched more than 150 kits. Customers are ordering the kits for socially distanced gatherings — “They order three or four kits at a time. I’m also talking to a media company who are keen on buying a huge order to send to clients who would have been advertising on the back of the Tokyo Olympics.They want 110 to go out on July 24. We’re just agreeing the logistics.” 

 

She admits it is hard work, but it’s something she can fit around her children. 

 

Whether the DIY meals are as popular after we’re ‘unlocked’ remains to be seen, but Goodkind is making sushi while the sun shines. 

 

Read a full review of the Bamboo Sushi Kit  here in Victoria Prever’s blog, The Fresser
More information on Jo Goodkind's Instagram:  @bam_boo_sushi