Sticks ‘n’ Sushi, the Copenhagen-based restaurant group, has confirmed two new openings for 2018.
The group has completed on the deal to take on a former police section house at 40 Beak Street in Soho and is in the final stages of securing the unit at 113-115 King’s Road, part of the Radnor Walk development in Chelsea. Both deals were first flagged up by MCA earlier this year.
Group chief operating officer, Andreas Karlsson, told MCA that both sites would launch in the summer and predicted the next opening would not be until late 2018 or early 2019.
The group opens its seventh UK site at Nova Victoria today, including a private dining area for up to 18 people. Karlsson said this would be a focus for the group going forward with a separate area for up to 30 diners planned at the King’s Road site.
Both new sites will be bigger than the group’s current largest site, which seats 180 people.
He said: “These are two sites that we have been negotiating on for a while and we’re delighted with what they will bring to the group.
“This will be our focus for most of 2018. We always like to have a gap between openings to make sure we are getting everything absolutely right. As a company we never talk about rollouts. It’s always about the next site. These two will open in the summer with a gap in between then we will take some time to gather ourselves and look to the next step.
“With these new sites we will be creating 15-160 jobs and filling positions both from within the pool of talent we already have in the business but also creating opportunities for people working for our competitors to see what we are doing and get in touch.
On recent trading he said: “Satisfactory probably sums it up best. Our restaurants are performing solidly and in the current market that’s pretty good. There is a lot of negativity around but our focus has always been on doing what we do well every single day. If you do the best that you can today, that gives you the best chance of having a good tomorrow.”
Sticks ‘n’ Sushi works with Deliveroo at selected sites but Karlsson said the group’s own takeaway trade was stronger.
“Guests like the connection with us and if they are not dining in our restaurants the next best thing is to stop by and pick something up. Having the facility to deliver our food to customers in their home is an added bonus but the takeaway element within our restaurants has built more momentum.”
