| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | London, England |
| Key people | Robin Rowland - CEO |
| Products | Sushi |
| Employees | 1000+ |
| Website | www.yosushi.com |
YO! Sushi is a British restaurant chain which was started in 1997[1] and is owned by Quilvest[2] (lead investor) and the YO! Sushi Senior Management team. 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 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 for consumption. 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.[3] Restaurants have also been opened in the Middle East in Dubai,[4] Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, with others in other countries such as Russia and Ireland. YO! Sushi plans to open restaurants in the United States.[5] The company's headquarters is located on Farringdon Road, London, UK.
YO! Sushi opened its first restaurant in Soho, London in January 1997.[6] A second restaurant followed opening in Harvey Nichols. By 2001 it became the market leader in sushi restaurants. In 2000, Robin Rowland became CEO and in 2002 YO! Sushi opened their first restaurant outside of London, in Manchester's Selfridges. By 2003, the company had 12 chains 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.[7] From the 1st of 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.[8] On the 12th March 2010, it was announced YO! Sushi would be serving 6 new hot dishes, adding to the Prawn Korroke it already did.[9]
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