worked in various jobs before he had the idea for Yo!Sushi and the motivation to start it. He had been a roadie, a stage designer and a TV executive. He had passed 40 when Yo!Sushi began in 1997. Small dishes of Japanese food self-served from moving conveyor belts were popular in Japan – but the phenomenon was relatively unknown in the UK. Simon had ‘nearly run out of money’ and he had a family to support. Like Coffee Republic, the idea took off and the business grew rapidly. Simon would eventually sell a controlling stake to his management team in 2003. After this his attention turned to helping others experience the Yo! Effect. He has written a book, performed at the Edinburgh Festival and applied his brand and concepts to other products and services – including Japanese-style hotels without windows. In 2005 he was one of the five featured investors on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den series, where successful entrepreneurs listened to a wide variety of business proposals before deciding where they might be interested in investing their own money.
Trying things out
Actually in spite of what all those teachers tell you its not really very important. Whatever you try out you can always change at a later date. I tried lots of things over my years, I was a bus conductor, I was a roadie for the rock shows, I was a stage designer, I did some of the biggest rock shows in the world, I was very involved in Live Aid nearly 20 years ago. I did all sorts of different things and I could never really figure out what it was that I was going to do until I found Yo!Sushi and I didn’t find it until much, much later on and it was the first time that I’d really done something and I was really, really proud of doing it.
worked in various jobs before he had the idea for Yo!Sushi and the motivation to start it. He had been a roadie, a stage designer and a TV executive. He had passed 40 when Yo!Sushi began in 1997. Small dishes of Japanese food self-served from moving conveyor belts were popular in Japan – but the phenomenon was relatively unknown in the UK. Simon had ‘nearly run out of money’ and he had a family to support. Like Coffee Republic, the idea took off and the business grew rapidly. Simon would eventually sell a controlling stake to his management team in 2003. After this his attention turned to helping others experience the Yo! Effect. He has written a book, performed at the Edinburgh Festival and applied his brand and concepts to other products and services – including Japanese-style hotels without windows. In 2005 he was one of the five featured investors on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den series, where successful entrepreneurs listened to a wide variety of business proposals before deciding where they might be interested in investing their own money.
