Simon Woodroffe OBE, born 14 February 1952, is a British Entrepreneur and business guru. He is the founder of YO! Sushi, YOTEL and the YO! Company.
Amongst many TV and press appearances, Simon was an original dragon in Series One of the popular British TV programme, Dragons’ Den.
First working in theatre, rock shows and television, Simon fell into a depression after his divorce from the mother of his daughter, Charlotte Woodroffe. Feeling desperation, he returned to his childhood aim to become a millionaire. He conceived and created YO! Sushi, opening the first restaurant on Poland Street, Soho, in 1997. The venture succeeded, creating a chain of restaurants and popularising conveyor belt sushi in Britain.
YO! Sushi and YOTEL have become global brands and Simon continues, through the YO! Company, to conceive of new YO! ventures.
In 1999 Simon won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Catey Group Restaurateur of the Year Award ref, and many others for his ventures including Retailer of the Year, Outstanding Retail Experience, and Design and Art Direction awards.
YO! Sushi now has more than 500 locations in UK restaurants and supermarkets, and close to 100 restaurants all over the planet. In 2023 YO! Sushi was sold to Zensho Holdings for £494 million.
YOTEL has 24 sites worldwide ref and aims to expand to 50 hotels by 2027.
In recognition of his contribution to hospitality, Simon was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2006.
Simon’s autobiography YO! Man was released on 04 June 2026 and Simon will be spreading it’s hopeful message of “if I can do what I have done, so can anybody else!” around the world.
