Sticks ‘n’ Sushi, the Danish restaurant group, will create a cluster of sites in the south east before expanding across the UK, M&C has learnt.
The group announced plans to open its first site outside of London in Cambridge, which UK managing director Andreas Karlsson said is due to open in the first quarter of 2016.
Karlsson told M&C Sticks ‘n’ Sushi will add more sites in commuter towns around the south east that match the demographic adding restaurants at a gradual pace to ensure the offering is suited to the location.
“We are a slightly higher price point but also higher quality levels, so the commuter belt towns in and around London are where the demographic ticks the boxes for our offering,” he said.
Sticks n Sushi is hoping to mirror the success of the Wimbledon restaurant, the first UK site, by finding towns with a working population with a strong going out culture as well as density of families with reasonably high incomes.
As well as the university cities such as Cambridge and Oxford chief executive Kim Rahbek Hansen announced yesterday, Karlsson said it will spread out from the south east to eventually form a cluster of sites in the north of England.
He said he expects the opening rate to continue at one to two restaurants a year to ensure the quality of restaurants is not compromised as the concept scales up.
“I would consider building a cluster of sites in time around Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and even Glasgow and Edinburgh but it’s not just about building them, it’s about operating a restaurant,” Karlsson said.
“However, we might feel like we are in good shape so that if we find a cracking site in Manchester then Manchester might be earlier on the map.”
He said the London model will be replicated as the company grows.
“We have made Sticks ‘n’ Sushi work in Wimbledon – which is not London, it’s a village – then I hope we can open up in commuter towns like Tunbridge Wells. I strongly believe we will be able to succeed using the same recipe and formula that we have in London.”
The group is currently looking for sites in Hamburg and Berlin to launch the brand in Germany. Karlsson said there are no fixed targets for either global or UK growth.
