YO! Sushi

YO! Sushi
Private
Industry Restaurants
Founded 1997 (1997)
Headquarters London, England
Key people
 Robin Rowland (CEO)
Products Sushi
Website www.yosushi.com

YO! Sushi is a company that owns, operates, and franchises restaurants, principally in the United Kingdom.[1]

History

YO! Sushi in Bluewater Shopping Centre
YO! Sushi in Paddington station, London
YO! Sushi in Manchester

YO! Sushi was founded in 1997 by British entrepreneur Simon Woodroffe.[2] The current owner is Quilvest[3] (lead investor) and members of the YO! Sushi Senior Management team.

YO! Sushi opened its first restaurant in Soho, London in January 1997.[4] 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 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.[5] 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.[6] On 12 March 2010, it was announced YO! Sushi would be serving 6 new hot dishes.[7]

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 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.[8] Restaurants have also been opened in the Middle East in Dubai,[9] Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, with others in other countries such as Russia and Ireland. In the United States, YO! Sushi has opened one restaurant in Union Station in Washington, D.C., with another set to open in the city's Chinatown neighborhood in early 2013.[10] However in 2014, the Union Station restaurant had closed,[11] and the plans for the Chinatown restaurant had been changed, therefore making the Chinatown restaurant unopened.[12] As of February 2015, there are no YO! Sushi restaurants in the United States or Washington D.C.[13] However, 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. [14] 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. Not only the company has a UK website, but a US website as well. The company's headquarters is located on Farringdon Road, London, UK.

A documentary aired on ITV in October 2009 showed that in two YO! Sushi restaurants sampled by undercover television reporters, food was being left for public consumption longer than the 2 hours claimed, and in some cases longer than the 4 hour deadline established in UK law by the Food Standards Agency.[15]

Awards

YO! Sushi won two awards in 2010 for 'Best Restaurant Website in the World' at the Webby Awards: the main Judge's award (experts in the digital world) and the People's Voice award (voted by the public).[16][17]

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.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Company Overview of YO! Sushi Group Ltd.". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved November 2012.
  2. ↑ "Yo! Sushi Food Case Study" (PDF). UK Government Intellectual Property Office. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  3. ↑ Ben Harrington (11 March 2008). "Yo! Sushi sold for £51m". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "Sushi for every one". The Independent. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  5. ↑ YO! Sushi adopts traffic light labeling / Eat Out Magazine
  6. ↑ YO! Sushi launches takeaway service / Eat Out Magazine
  7. ↑ YO! Sushi launches six hot dishes / Eat Out Magazine
  8. ↑ "Fast, Fun, Fresh and Tasty Food for the Whole Family - YO! Sushi Restaurants & Takeaway". yosushi.com. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  9. ↑ YO! Sushi opens first outlet in Dubai / Ameinfo
  10. ↑ Tim. "The 42: Panera, YO! Sushi Under Construction in Chinatown". the42bus.blogspot.com. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  11. ↑ "Yo! Sushi Permanently Closed in Union Station - PoPville". popville.com. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  12. ↑ Missy Frederick. "Yo! Sushi Nixes Chinatown Plans". Eater DC. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  13. ↑ "Fast, Fun, Fresh and Tasty Food for the Whole Family - YO! Sushi Restaurants & Takeaway". yosushi.com. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  14. ↑ "Openng Alert: Yo! Sushi, Paramus, NJ- Boozy Burbs". boozyburbs.com. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  15. ↑ "Dishing the Dirt". ITV Press Centre. 13 October 2009. Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved November 2012.
  16. ↑ "Indicia". Indicia. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  17. ↑ "YO! grabs top web awards". Peach Report. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  18. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/18/family-restaurant-chains-unsustainable-seafood-wagamama-bella-italia

External links

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