Sticks'n'Sushi secures £22m loan to fund UK restaurant expansion

Restaurant group Sticks’n’Sushi has secured a £22m loan to support its expansion plans.

The funding from OakNorth bank will be used to open new sites across the UK.

It comes after private equity firm McWin, which also backs Big Mamma Group and Gail’s, acquired Sticks’n’Sushi in January with plans to expand it into new markets over the next five years.

Sticks'n'Sushi was founded in Denmark in 1994 by Thor Andersen and brothers Kim Rahbek Hansen and Jens Rahbek Hansen, who drew inspiration from their half-Japanese, half-Danish background to create a menu focused on different types of sushi and grilled skewers of meat.

The group now has 1,500 employees and has expanded to 12 restaurants in Denmark, three in Germany and 12 in the UK. These include ten London sites and one each in Oxford and Cambridge.

The brand’s 13th UK restaurant is set to open in London’s Richmond in May.

Sticks'n'Sushi' chief executive Andreas Karlsson, who previously led the international roll-out of Wagamama, said: “Our continued growth is really exciting – we’ve opened a restaurant every year since 2012 and we launched two last year in Shoreditch and Kingston, followed by Richmond this May – which will make it three in nine months.

“We have identified great locations for several new restaurants in the coming years, and with the support of McWin and OakNorth, we will be able to take advantage of this.”

Sticks‘n'Sushi generated £90m of revenue in the year ending June 2023.

Other hospitality businesses backed by OakNorth include the Alchemist, Z Hotels, Bowland Inns & Hotels, and Inception Group.