Restaurants
YO! Sushi specialises in delivering sushi to customers using the Japanese style 'kaiten' conveyor belt method.[10][11][12] 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.[12]
The belt carries food around the restaurant in a circuit, allowing diners to pick any dish from the belt.[10]
The restaurants are mostly based in the United Kingdom with the majority in London.[13] Restaurants have also been opened in the Middle East in Dubai,[14] Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, with others in other countries such as Ireland.
In the United States, YO! Sushi has opened five restaurants: There was 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, but it closed in 2017.[15] There was also another 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. All of the locations in the United States were eventually closed by 2018. Mayfair Equity Partners acquired Canadas Bento Sushi in 2018.
The company's headquarters is on Farringdon Road, London, United Kingdom. The company offer a menu with 19 vegan items.[16] At the PETA Vegan Food Awards 2015, the company's Tofu Katsu Curry won in the category Best Vegan Curry.[17] The restaurant also provides classes in making sushi.[18]
In August 2020, YO! Sushi announced that it will shut 19 of its restaurants and cut up to 250 jobs as part of a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) restructuring process.[19]
