News

Yo!Sushi makes U.S. debut in nation's capital

July 24, 2012

United Kingdom-based YO!Sushi has opened its first United States restaurant at the main metro entrance in Union Station in Washington, D.C. This is the first of at least 10 restaurants to come to the mid-Atlantic corridor between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia for the sushi chain. The owner is The Sushi Company of North America, which is led by Richard Pawlowski.

Pawlowski’s companies own 37 restaurants along the Eastern seaboard: 12 Qdoba Mexican Grills in D.C., Maryland and northern Virginia, 13 Cosi locations in D.C., and 12 Bugaboo Creek Steak Houses from Maryland to Maine. Pawlowski, who holds a master’s degree in engineering from Oxford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, got his start in the U.S. job market working for Bain & Company. In this new venture, Pawlowski has teamed up with Darren Wightman, who will serve as operating partner for YO!Sushi. Wightman was formerly the executive chef for YO!Sushi in the UK and oversaw the development and operation of 14 stores as operations manager.

YO!Sushi started in the UK in 1997 and serves sushi and other Japanese favorites via a conveyor belt.

“We have had a great deal of success in the U.K. and around the globe so we are confident that YO!Sushi will be popular in the U.S. as well,” said Alison Vickers, business development director. “The conveyor belt makes the concept unique and customers will really enjoy the chance to pick their dishes off the rotating belt.”

By 2001 it was the UK’s market leader in conveyor-belt sushi. YO!Sushi was the first UK restaurant chain to open in Dubai in 2003 and is now the Japanese market leader of both conveyor and non-conveyor restaurants.

YO!Sushi serves sushi rolls, sashimi, Asian-inspired salads and a large variety of classic, hot Japanese dishes on color/price-coded dishes via a snaking conveyor belt. YO!Sushi operates more than 60 company-owned restaurants in the UK, as well as more than a dozen franchised locations in Ireland, the Middle East and the Oslo Airport in Norway.

YO! Sushi anticipates five to 10 locations open and operating in the U.S. by the end of 2013. The company is focused on the East Coast and other major markets such as Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Philadelphia for initial U.S. expansion.