Group Restaurateur of the Year

Simon Woodroffe

Given the pedigree of previous recipients of this award, the winner of this year's Catey has a few hard acts to follow. He has to match up to such revered names as Neville Abraham and Laurence Isaacson of Groupe Chez Gérard, and John Barnes from Harry Ramsden's.

This year's judges felt they had found just the man to match these names. In Simon Woodroffe, a former rock concert set designer and now owner of the six Yo! Sushi restaurants, as well as Japanese beer and sake hall Yo! Below, they saw a man they considered to be "a great ambassador to the industry with a great story".

Business with potential

The restaurant side of Woodroffe's story started after he spent seven years in the TV industry. Giving this up, he set his sights on developing a new business that had the potential to grow. Woodroffe wanted it to be in retail, but beyond that he wasn't committed. It wasn't until a Japanese TV producer suggested a conveyor-belt sushi bar that he made his decision to go into the restaurant trade.

The rest, as they say, is history. As the judges noted: "Woodroffe did something that someone else hasn't done, and that was to bring sushi to the masses." While setting up Yo! Sushi in 1997 Woodroffe used his numerous contacts to keep costs down. He also had the ingenuity to find sponsors. Sony Consumer Products donated the TVs and sound equipment, and All Nippon Airways provided air tickets to Japan to gather that essential authentic sushi taste.

Marketing coup

Three months into business, Woodroffe landed a marketing coup that had the judges drooling. Computer giant Microsoft plucked the eaterie from relative obscurity to feature in a series of internationally screened ads promoting its Windows 98 package. It was not only Microsoft that was impressed by the restaurant; the conveyor-belt food was an instant hit with London diners.

The judges openly praised Woodroffe's ability to be original. "He broke the ground bringing sushi here. He is certainly daring, for if somebody had mentioned the idea four or five years ago you would have thought he was mad. Conveyor belts and sushi? But it works." And the figures prove it. Turnover, from 1997 to 1998 was up over 55% from £1,652,000 to £2,572,000.

Woodroffe is not going to rest on his laurels, however. He intends to expand the chain globally, although the long-term plan is to franchise the Yo! name to a wider range of goods and services, repeating the formula developed by Richard Branson's Virgin Group over the past 25 years.

Going global will also mean opening bars, and a chain of Yo!tels. The test is whether one brand with limited international visibility can support so many different products. But Woodroffe has a solid belief in the name: Yo! is an international expression, which travels well.

Judges

David Coffer, chairman, Davis, Coffer, Lyons

John Barnes, executive chairman, Harry Ramsden's

Max Woolfenden, chief executive, Wimpy International

Nick Lander, food writer, Financial Times

David Chambers, chef-director, Rules Restaurant, London

Jane Walton, purchasing manager, Jarvis Hotels

Rod McKie, managing director, Coffee Republic

Sponsored by Winterhalter Gastronom