Rock’n’ Roll, robots & reinventing British dining with Simon Woodroffe (Founder of YO! Sushi & YOTEL)

Episode notes

Many of you will love YO! Sushi but do you know the man behind the brand? Simon Woodroffe started YO! Sushi at the age of 45, after a career in the music business working on staging for rock bands like Queen, Rod Stewart & Ozzy Osbourne. A chance meeting & subsequent trip to Japan introduced him to the idea of conveyor-belt sushi & he became fascinated by the theatre of it. In 1997, Simon opened the first YO! Sushi in Poland Street, Soho, bringing something entirely new to London’s restaurant scene. What began as a slightly mad (& he would say risky) idea went on to become the world’s number one conveyor-belt sushi brand! After selling his controlling interest in YO! Sushi in 2003, while retaining a stake for a number of years before eventually exiting the business on a royalty, he joined BBC Dragons' Den launched YOTEL (inspired by Japanese capsule hotels) & continued to embark on a range of entrepreneurial ventures. Simon is now focused on sharing what he's learned along the way so we're excited to share this SuperConnector Show podcast with him ahead of his new autobiography 'YO! Man' released on 4th June!