YO! Sushi
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Company type | Private |
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Industry | Restaurants |
Founded | 1997 |
Headquarters | London, England |
Number of locations | 90+ |
Area served | Global |
Key people | Robin Rowland, OBE (CEO) |
Products | Sushi |
Website | www.yosushi.com |
YO! Sushi is a company that owns, operates, and franchises conveyor belt sushi restaurants, principally in the United Kingdom, United States, Europe and the Middle East.[1]
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Yo%21_Sushi_in_Manchester.jpg/220px-Yo%21_Sushi_in_Manchester.jpg)
YO! Sushi was founded in 1997 by British entrepreneur Simon Woodroffe.[2] The current owner is Mayfair Equity Partners and members of the YO! Sushi Senior Management team.
YO! Sushi opened its first restaurant in Soho, London in January 1997.[3] A second restaurant followed opening in Harvey Nichols. In 2000, Robin Rowland became CEO and in 2002 YO! Sushi opened their first restaurant outside London, in Manchester's Selfridges. By 2003, the company had 12 restaurants open, and the first franchise opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Two new franchises opened in 2007 - one in Dublin, the other in Moscow. In 2010, they opened their 50th company-owned restaurant in Market Place, London.
In 2008, they became the first catering group to adopt the Food Standards Agency's traffic light colour-coding system, which allows customers to see nutritional information about the food they are eating.[4] From 1 September 2009, the YO! Sushi in Whiteley's Shopping Centre launched its takeaway and delivery services, allowing customers to go into the restaurant and order their food or order online to get food delivered to their homes.[5]
The restaurant continued to grow globally with the expansion to the USA in 2015, opening their conveyor belts in New Jersey, New York and Florida.[6]
Restaurants
YO! Sushi specialises in delivering sushi to customers using the Japanese style 'kaiten' conveyor belt method. In each restaurant various sushi dishes and other Japanese cooked foods are prepared in a theater-style kitchen in plain view of customers and then set on the thin conveyor belt. The belt carries food around the restaurant in a circuit, allowing diners to pick any dish from the belt. In order to indicate freshness, a label is applied to the lid of the dish to indicate when the dish must be consumed by.
The restaurants are mostly based in the United Kingdom with the majority in London.[7] Restaurants have also been opened in the Middle East in Dubai,[8] Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, with others in other countries such as Russia and Ireland. In the United States, YO! Sushi has opened 5 restaurants: There is a YO! Sushi located at the Westfield Garden State Plaza shopping mall in Paramus, New Jersey, which is close to New York City. The location opened in May 2015.[9] There is also another US location in Sarasota, Florida. Then three more locations opened in Tampa, Florida, Short Hills, New Jersey at The Mall at Short Hills, and Woodbury Commons mall in Central Valley, New York. The company's headquarters is on Farringdon Road, London, UK.
Sushi School
The restaurant runs a master class called Sushi School [10] in its restaurants.
Awards
YO! Sushi is the winner of the Best Vegan Curry category for its Tofu Katsu Curry at the PETA Vegan Food Awards 2015.[11]
Environmental record
In November 2015 the chain received a rating of 4 out of 5 for the sustainability of its seafood, among the highest ratings of all restaurants surveyed.[12]
References
- ^ "Company Overview of YO! Sushi Group Ltd". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved November 2012.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ "Yo! Sushi Food Case Study" (PDF). UK Government Intellectual Property Office. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
- ^ "Sushi for every one". The Independent. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ YO! Sushi adopts traffic light labeling / Eat Out Magazine
- ^ YO! Sushi launches takeaway service / Eat Out Magazine
- ^ "YO! Sushi USA". YO! Sushi. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ "Fast.. Food for the Whole Family - YO! Sushi Restaurants & Takeaway". yosushi.com. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ YO! Sushi opens first outlet in Dubai / Ameinfo
- ^ "Openng Alert: Yo! Sushi, Paramus, NJ- Boozy Burbs". boozyburbs.com. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
- ^ "Sushi School, YO! Sushi". yosushi.com. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ "PETA UK Vegan Food Awards 2015". peta.org.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ^ http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/18/family-restaurant-chains-unsustainable-seafood-wagamama-bella-italia