Early in 2001
Simon Woodroffe, ex rock ‘n’ roll set designer, and founder
and Chairman of YO! Sushi, enlisted the help of Brilliant Stages Ltd
to develop a quick assembling and portable touring sushi bar / conveyor
that could also be used in installations for their rapidly expanding
sushi restaurant and bar network.
Brilliant
Stages designed a conveyor design that would eventually become a modular
system, essentially clipping together in a similar way to slot car
racing tracks. A custom extrusion was created to accommodate the components
of the automated conveyor as well as shelf brackets and support legs.
Finally, the whole system was supplied in a silver anodised finish
with a protective film to meet the necessary food hygiene legislation.
The new system
was first installed in a restaurant in Rose Street, Edinburgh and
was equipped with a single track incorporating 4 x 90º bends
and a 30º chicane. The installation was completed just before
the Edinburgh Festival and proved to be a great success.
Following
the success of Rose Street, Brilliant were then asked to supply a
track for the 12th & newest YO! Sushi restaurant on the concourse
at Paddington Station. This time a double track was called for with
3 x double 90º bends and 2 x 180º hairpins!
The installation
schedule would initially look challenging with only seven days for
the complete restaurant to be furnished from start to finish, and
Brilliant would be limited by having to work around the other contractors.
In the end, the project managed by Ewan Dryburgh from WDW Architects
and John Isted from YO! Sushi, proved to be less of a problem. Brilliant
were able to deliver the basic track structure to site on the Sunday
night ready for the various other trades to start Monday morning.
We then returned the following Friday morning to fit the conveyor
belt, drive, cladding, fascias and footrests. The conveyor was commissioned
that afternoon, 2 days ahead of schedule!
The success
of YO! Sushi continues and Brilliant Stages will be working on the
latest restaurants that are opening all over the world.
We have developed
a new cross over system to be used in conjunction with our custom
extrusion.
• Edinburgh,
Paddington, Harvey Nichols, Islington, Selfridges Manchester, Fulham
Broadway, Trocadero, Dubai and the latest at Selfridges Birmingham.
• We are now working on a new conveyor for Athens
