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The fashionable sushi bar Zushi in Amsterdam, 2000.
African Studies, University of London. During her stay in Japan, she
noticed the popularity of kaitenzushi and decided to open a similar restaurant
at home. She originally aimed at Japanese expatriates as her main
business target. However, instead of businessmen in suits, crowds of London
yuppies turned up at the Moshi Moshi counter.
Like teppanyaki, the London sushi boom was fuelled by its popularity
in the United States, by the 1990s already reaching the second wave of
its popularization. This popularity in the us boosted the value of sushi for
Europeans. In the mid-1990s, however, sushi was still an exclusive food
served, for example, at a sushi counter in the Food Halls of Harrods
Department Store. 40 Within the next few years, it began to be transformed
into a popular snack.
The big change came in 1997 with the arrival of the two hip kaitenzushi
bars Itsu and Yo!Sushi, with the latter clearly taking the lead. In 2006
twenty-five Yo!Sushi restaurants operated in the uk and seven abroad (two
in France, one in Greece, four in the Middle East). 41 The genius of Simon
Woodroffe, the founder of Yo!Sushi, was fully recognized by the British
business community, which in 1999 voted him the London Entrepreneur of
the Year and a year later Group Restaurateur of the Year. Other awards,
such as the Retail Interiors’ Most Outstanding Retail Experience and Best
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