Bjerrum, who opened her seventh site in Billingsgate Market at the end of last year, said she saw a gap in the diet market for a restaurant-led concept to help the growing number of slimmers at this time of year.
She said: "Although there are a lot of these diet plans around, I couldn’t find any provided by a restaurant and I saw a gap in the market. We have really focused on taste and quality so it’s the opposite of being a hardship to follow."
For £95, participants of the Feng Diet are delivered dishes twice a day to an address of their choice for three days. Each day they receive three meals and two snacks containing 1,500 calories.
Healthy Japanese food
Bjerrum enlisted the help of nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston to devise the special menu with dishes designed to keep blood sugar levels balanced and cleanse the body with wholegrain carbohydrates such as brown rice and buckwheat noodles, plus beans and lots of vegetables.
"Every dish on the diet plan has come from the Feng Sushi menu, so the ‘Feng Diet’ will still be a treat, we’ve simply taken advantage of the fact that Japanese food has many naturally healthy qualities – dieting has never been so delicious," added Bjerrum.
The restaurant chain recommends that customers follow the three-day regime for three weeks, although it can be followed for six or nine consecutive days.
A sample menu for one day includes:
Breakfast: Porridge
Snack (am): 4 brown rice salmon and chive maki
Lunch: Feng Diet X Ray salad with baby spinach & seaweed lower sugar dressing / Yellow tail sashimi
Snack (pm): Edamame with seasoning ‘Rescue’ veg sticks with tofu, wakame and coriander dip
Dinner: Rainbow trout broth with soba noodles
In 2009 the UK diet industry was said to be worth more than £2bn as people seek quick ways to lose weight. Meanwhile, restaurant chains are being placed under increasing pressure by the Government to make nutritional information and calorie counts available to customers.
Feng Sushi, founded by Bjerrum in 1999, currently has seven London sites, in Fulham, Borough Market, Notting Hill Gate, Kensington, Chalk Farm, Royal Festival Hall and Billingsgate, which only offers a delivery service.