London-based Yo! Sushi is hoping to make it big in the U.S.
Yo! Sushi, which has 87 units, mostly in the United Kingdom, is in the early stages of its U.S. expansion, with locations in New Jersey and Florida, another three in the works, and plans to take its fast-casual restaurants up and down the East Coast.
“I think if Brits are ready for sushi, Americans are definitely ready,” said Alison Vickers, Yo! Sushi director of development.
But growth won’t be easy. The U.S. restaurant market is tough and littered with international concepts that have tried and failed to make it big.
Yo! Sushi is aware of those challenges. But it also noted chains have found success recently, such as South African concept Nando’s Peri-Peri, and fellow British chain Pret A Manger.
“But it is the best restaurant market in the world,” Vickers said of the U.S. “We’ve had luck with the first locations. We’ve done a lot of research.”
Research has focused on the market for sushi, an increasingly popular item in the U.S., particularly with younger consumers. Sushi is now ubiquitous, available everywhere from grocery store kiosks to upscale restaurants. But Yo! Sushi aims to fill what it sees as a hole in the U.S. market.
“There isn’t a fast-casual player in the market,” Vickers said. “There are good, quality food court sushi offers and good quality high-end sushi. But there isn’t a mid-market, fast-casual option.”
Yo! Sushi serves a wide range of Japanese dishes, including sushi rolls, sashimi, salads, soups, maki and nigiri. The food is served along a conveyor belt, and dishes are color-coded by price, ranging from $3 for an item like Vegetable Harumaki to $7 special such as Salmon & Yuzu Tartar.
Restaurants have airline-style call buttons so customers can get servers’ attention.
“It’s not a high-end, fancy Japanese restaurant, but the quality of our food is strong,” Vickers said.
Yo! Sushi’s first location opened in the Soho area of London in 1997. Management bought out the company in 2003, and it has been expanding ever since. The chain currently has 75 locations in the United Kingdom and 12 franchise locations around the world.
The company has two locations in the U.S., in Paramus, N.J., and Sarasota, Fla. The early success of those locations gave the company confidence that its U.S. plans were on solid footing.
“Both places had an exceptional reception from all sorts of people,” Vickers said. She noted that the New Jersey location opened to “awe and wonder,” and has since built a regular clientele.
The Florida restaurant, meanwhile, “had a line out the door, and it continues to have a line out the door,” she said. “That’s been real exciting for us.”
Yo! Sushi currently plans to expand in the eastern U.S. with company-owned locations, targeting sites in an opportunistic fashion. The company also wants to target non-traditional sites like airports, where the chain has operated successfully with locations at airports in Dubai, Oslo and London, among others.
Vickers said there are dedicated Japanese suppliers that can supply much of its ingredients, like sushi rice and sauces. And she said New Jersey has an “amazing fish supply chain” to bring the seafood that’s so crucial to its menu.
“We’ve worked very hard on our supply chain,” Vickers said. “It’s very important to us.”
Vickers said the company is taking advice from fellow British concepts on what works and what doesn’t work in the U.S. Yo! Sushi has tweaked its menu to satisfy the American palate.
“A few menu items have changed,” Vickers said.
For instance, in the U.K., Yo! Sushi serves two large rolls of sushi. In the U.S., customers prefer four smaller rolls.
“We’re a flexible business,” Vickers said. “We react to change pretty quickly.”
Americans love choice, she added, and international concepts have to consider portion sizes when they move into the U.S. At the same time, Vickers said, much of what the chain sells is well known.
“Sushi is universal,” Vickers said. “It looks the same everywhere. A piece of nigiri is a piece of nigiri.”
Update: July, 8, 2015: An earlier version of the story showed images from United Kingdom Yo! Sushi locations.
Contact Jonathan Maze at [email protected].
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