Acquisition of Bento Sushi by YO! Sushi

DATE
November 2017

TRANSACTION TYPE
Private Equity

VALUE
CAD$100 million

SECTOR
Restaurant & Leisure

Spayne Lindsay & Co. announces the acquisition of Bento Sushi by YO! Sushi.

Spayne Lindsay is delighted to announce that it has advised YO! Sushi, the UK’s leading fast casual Japanese restaurant group, on its acquisition of Bento Sushi, the largest sushi company in Canada. YO! Sushi is backed by Mayfair Equity Partners.

Bento Sushi started business in 1996 in downtown Toronto as a small takeaway shop selling sushi, bento boxes and other ready-to-eat foods. A rapid expansion followed and continues to this day, transforming Bento Sushi into the largest sushi company in Canada with over 540 locations spread across all ten provinces and several states in the United States. The business now operates on-site sushi kiosks in grocery retail locations, QSR restaurants in food courts, shopping malls, offices and high-street locations and also operates a pre-packaged sushi commissary model served by its own manufacturing supply chain.

Bento Sushi serves more than 20 million sushi customers every year from more than 1,800 locations selling bento products. Bento Sushi has recently launched the Bento Kitchen concept in select locations – a whole new product line focusing on traditional Japanese entrées made hot and fresh to order.

The acquisition of Bento Sushi provides YO! Sushi enhanced scale and expertise in North America across a variety of sushi formats.