Welcome to the food factory

Customers dining at Yo! Sushi could soon find themselves being verbally abused by talking robots.

Three automatic guided vehicle (AGV) robots are programmed to carry drinks along a preset route through the 100-seat restaurant. The original concept was that staff would help customers get drinks from the robotic trolleys but, since opening in January, customers have wanted to serve themselves.

Plans to add voices to the robots are being explored and, if successful, customers could find themselves being electronically ordered out of the way.

Robots are part of the hi-tech experience at Yo! Sushi on Poland Street in London. Other state-of-the-art equipment includes a 60m conveyor belt which travels the length of the restaurant carrying colour-coded plates of sushi, priced from £1 to £2.50.

The principle is simple: what you see is what you get - with the exception of gourmet sushi, priced between £2.50 and £3.50, and miso soup costing £1.60, which have to be ordered. The price structure is kept simple. "You'll never see £1.99 or £1.49. Prices are clean," says Simon Woodroffe, Yo! Sushi's owner and designer.

In the middle of the restaurant, chefs work in an open-plan sushi-making area, complete with a machine that makes nigiri sushi - balls of shaped rice with a smidgin of wasabi (Japanese horseradish).

"We've made some bold moves with Yo! Sushi, like having a sushi-making machine. I wasn't sure if people would like it," says Woodroffe.

Woodroffe was aware that customers might prefer their sushi to be hand-made. But he believes robot-made sushi improves texture and shape.

To wash it all down, water is on tap. Customers can help themselves to an unlimited supply of still or fizzy water for £1. The Yo! Vivreau water system has been specially designed for the restaurant.

Another bold move is the restaurant's lack of decoration. Any customer whose attention isn't grabbed by the conveyor belt, open kitchen or robotic drinks trolleys, can watch staff working in the preparation kitchen at the rear of the restaurant.

With all this hi-tech entertainment there is no need for other decor. Everything the customer can see at Yo! Sushi is functional.

"It's a food factory. There is no decoration, the technology becomes the decor," says Woodroffe.

Even with all the technology there is a more spiritual side to Yo! Sushi. It has been conceived with kaizen, a tenet of the Japanese view of life, which means doing things correctly, with integrity and honour and having a clearly-stated focus.

Eating at Yo! Sushi is an experience from start to finish. Cries of "Yo! two" are the first things that greet diners, letting waiting staff know there are two people on their station. Then customers receive a Yo!dentity menu guide, which is the passport for the experience and helps with settling the bill at the end.

Waiting staff tot up what customers have had according to colour-coded plates left on the table. There is no service charge or tipping as staff belong to a profit-sharing scheme.

"The system is currently being refined, but we've got very loyal staff and people who are enthusiastic about coming to work here," says Woodroffe.

Yo!dentity is also the name of the brand for which Woodroffe has wider plans. Yo! Sushi was conceived while he was considering ways to create and launch Yo!dentity.

"I wanted a retail business and invented Yo! Then I realised it could be the name for many things," he explains.

To research the idea Woodroffe got up early every morning for months, asking people questions on the London Underground or in the street. He also relied on gut feeling.

"Over two years I asked about 2,000 people what they thought about the concept but, in the end, you're the one who has to decide," says Woodroffe.

Already serving between 500 and 600 covers a week, Woodroffe's instinct has paid off. Lunchtime is filled with local Soho business people and those who have already established themselves as regulars in the few months since opening.

In the evening the restaurant is filled with customers who have heard about the restaurant and have ventured into town to try it out. "We're still in the process of being discovered," says Woodroffe.

Expansion plans

He is using several channels to roll out the Yo! brand. Expansion through highly motivated staff is one method Woodroffe is exploring. To that end he is currently looking for operators and managers to open and run more Yo! Sushi restaurants.

He plans to open another in June, at Harvey Nichols in Kensington. With between 40 and 50 seats the new site will be smaller, but more hi-tech. The sushi conveyor belt will run through each table, and there will be buttons to press for ordering gourmet sushi.

Eventually, Woodroffe would like to have the conveyor belt programed to deliver orders to tables, automatically pushing them off the belt when they arrive.

"These plans will happen when they happen," he says.

Worldwide, Yo! Sushi sites are being planned in both the hospitality and retail sectors.

"We want to grab all the cities for ourselves, and be the first there with this. Yo! will be the 21st century version of the 1950s American diner," he adds.

Woodroffe is also launching six Yo! Honda delivery bikes, which will each carry £1,000-worth of sushi at a time.

Finally, he has plans for a London hotel, Yo!tel, with rooms half the size of most hotel rooms and a service area on each floor. He plans to obtain an ugly 1960s office building, as it will be cheaper, and convert it.

"Rooms will be comfortable but practical, not luxury, so people don't linger in them," he says.

However quickly Woodroffe rolls out his brand in an effort to conquer all the cities of the world, he intends to do it with kaizen.