Sushi Takeaway Business

[rhymond]

Hey!

We’re a small team of two based in Manchester, spending time rolling and making sushi’s. Currently our main customers are family members and friends. We want to share our passion and skills to the next level as we're thinking to open sushi takeaway. We have couple of questions before start and we're looking forward to get your opinion.
1. What do you think about market, do you see a potential for Sushi takeaway in Manchester? in UK?
2. Do you have any ideas, where we can how we could find premises? Any particular websites?
3. Do you think it would be better to rent premises? buy a van? lease?

We would really appreciate your feedback. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mr D]

1. I'd maybe buy from you once or twice a year. There is a potential for any decent food pretty much anywhere. Whether you can make money doing it is another issue.

2. Before you start with premises start with the basics. Have you any takeaway experience? Do you know where to get the items you need in wholesale quantities and wholesale price? Do you have workable prices?
Before taking on a premises start small - try a market stall / event stall. Signing a multi year lease which you would have to pay whether your business makes money, loses money or shuts down... for up to multiple years - is not a great starting point. Work up to that.

3. Not seeing what the comparison is between the three - what are you aiming for?

 

[patientlady]

In Sydney there are loads of Sushi takeaways. Our Waitrose has a sushi takeaway. Done well I am sure Manchester in the right location would be great

 

[KyushuTravelAgent]

I live in Japan and eat sushi several times a month. You can get sushi takeaway at supermarkets and ask for it boxed at sushi bars but I can't think of any specifically takeaway shops. I guess that's because Japanese know it's best when immediately served. I'm wondering if you need much more space for a sushi bar compared to a takeaway sushi shop. Just a thought.

 

[obscure]

Yo Sushi has a restaurant/takeaway in Manchester. I assume they wouldn't stay there if there was no market.

If you have access to Netflix I would suggest you watch "Million Pound Menu" (filmed in Manchester). It is basically "Dragons Den for Restaurants". Each show two wannabe restaurateurs set up pop up restaurants in Manchester and try to get funding from investors. Don't watch it with the idea of getting funding but in order to look at what they all do right/wrong.

Restaurants live and die on repeat business and word of mouth. You need decent branding, good quality, a menu that is large enough to attract customers but not to large that it becomes too difficult to serve everyone in a reasonable time-frame. If you only do sushi then you limit your customers. If you do sushi plus a handful of other dishes (yakitori, gyoza, miso soup etc) then you widen your customer base. Good fresh sushi fish can be expensive and it takes time/effort to make well. Miso soup is yummy, cheap and quick to make - you will make far more profit from Miso soup than you will from the sushi.

As others have said. Start by testing out in a market or pop-up location before signing a 5-10 year lease that will require a personal guarantee

 

[Socio South West]

With two universities and major working population Manchester is probably the best place outside London to be offering takeaway food in the UK; It already has the 'Curry Mile' with a wide range of food outlets, and there are a great variety of international cuisines available around the city, so one more isn't going to make any difference.
As long as your menu is planned carefully to appeal to as wide a range as possible, and your presentation and marketing is good, there's no reason why you shouldnt succeed.

However, as you have only fed family and friends so far, I endorse the thought that you should look at doing some larger scale 'pop-up' events to expose your wares to a larger section of the population, and learn how to deal with some of the problems of scaling up before you commit to a lease or other large capital expenditure.

As @obscure suggests there is plenty to learn from Million Pound Menu and the like.

 

[CaveMoons]

I think I might be able to help, need to think though...

 

[Nochexman]

We’re a small team of two based in Manchester, spending time rolling and making sushi’s.

What have you decided to do, rhymond?

 

[Owesdr]

I think that there is potential to your business. I would only suggest targeting central city zones, as it would be good for your visibility. From here you can target better customers from surrounding companies ordering sushi for lunch, as well as a large number of tourists

 

[CVRO]

I'm sure there are already sushi takeaways in Manchester. Don't they have Itsu and the likes?

Do you know Manchester at all?
Walk around potential areas to see if you spot a good location.

Are you planning a static location or a food truck serving sushi?

 

[frankie007]

Take away sushi places are very popular in London. Fact that you can operate out of A1 premises alone is a huge advantage, it is much cheaper then regular take away . In London competition is fierce though as I am sure it will be in Manchester. Good luck!