YO! Sushi temporarily closes 54 restaurants, but 16 remain open
Restaurants in Aberdeen, Birmingham Grand Central, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Edinburgh Princess Street, Glasgow Central, Heathrow T2, Heathrow T3, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester Arndale, Newcastle Grainger Street, Norwich, Nottingham, St Pancras and York will stay open but will move to restricted hours and a reduced menu to make things easier for the teams, according to the company.
The restaurants will not use the conveyor belt for dishes but will instead have them brought directly to the table as part of the company’s heightened cleaning and sanitising measures.
The sushi chain is just one of a number of national restaurant groups to have announced temporary closures alongside companies such as Ask Italian, Zizzi, Brasserie Blanc and Prezzo.
“This is without doubt, the most difficult situation we have experienced in YO!’s 23 years, and we do not make these changes lightly,” CEO Richard Hodgson said in a statement.
“However, things have moved very quickly following the government announcements earlier this week, and this is the only way to ensure that as many of our team members as possible have jobs when this is over as well as protect the future of this much loved and iconic brand."
The sushi chain says it is also increasing its delivery capabilities to those customers who don’t want to come into the restaurants and its food will still be available to pick up from selected nationwide Tesco and Sainsbury’s supermarkets, where YO! Sushi runs concessions and has a branded presence on shelves.
As with other restaurant groups, including Carluccio's, Itsu and Pret an Manger, YO! Sushi is offering a discount to NHS workers who are at the front line of the Coronavirus pandemic, with all Blue Light cardholders receiving a 50% discount across both dine in and YO! to go menus. This discount also applies to those who work in the retail centres or travel hubs in which its restaurants operate.
