________________________________________________________________________________________________________ IRO
Sushi
“ We’ ve also signed off new locations in Basingstoke, Salisbury, and Bristol, and we have an interesting potential opportunity to open in Glasgow,” Chhong reveals.“ We’ re also about to sign a deal for a store in Ipswich, but we’ re always exploring cities like Liverpool and Birmingham to bring our fast-food sushi concept to more audiences. We prioritize locations where footfall is high, like shopping centers, high streets, or close to transport hubs.” tremendously since its foundation. Having taken the London market by storm, IRO is now expanding across the UK, with recent openings in Brighton, Newbury, and Canterbury. At most of its new store openings, IRO offers special discounts and limited-time offers for early customers, including £ 1 chicken katsu curry, free sushi tasting, and 25 percent off the entire menu.
Expanding reach
IRO’ s successful franchise network is the pillar of its growth strategy and has enabled the business to grow to its current network of 32 stores. The company now has higher ambitions to reach 100 stores in the next five years.“ We operate a mix of companyowned and franchisee-owned stores, with around 33 percent of the stores owned by the business,” Chhong explains.“ Moving forward, our focus is firmly on franchising, and although the food market is generally tough right now, we’ re seeing lots of interest in franchising and investment, especially in our niche market.”
By placing fresh, authentic sushi at the heart of its operations, IRO’ s fast-food sushi concept is quickly gaining popularity in London and beyond. To close our conversation, we ask Chhong more about his plans to grow the business further.“ We’ re currently focused on supporting our franchisees in opening new stores, and we’ re planning to open a total of ten new stores in 2026,” Chhong concludes.“ Beyond our target of operating 100 stores in the next five years, we’ ll explore store options in Europe to expand our reach further, but first, we want to become known as the leader of fast-food sushi in the UK.” ■
www. irosushi. com
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