| Cooking Up a Raw Recipe for Success
By Eithne Treanor
He’s the man behind one of the restaurant industry’s biggest success
stories. But it took Simon Woodroffe longer than he intended to hit the
big time, as Eithne Treanor discovered.
Entrepreneur Simon Woodroffe used to design stage sets for people like
Rod Stewart and Ozzie Osbourne.
But he had always aspirations to be a millionaire. It just took him a
bit longer to make it than he planned.
The man who founded Japanese restaurant chain Yo! Sushi meant to hit
the big time by the time he was 21. But it didn’t happen.
He thought he’d make it by the time he was 30. But he says he was having
too much fun.
When he hit 40, the man who left school at 16 qualified for nothing felt
he was running out of time and it was time to act.
So he invented Yo! Sushi. Last year he sold his majority share in the
business for more than £10million. Woodroffe recently starred on BBC TV’s
The Dragons’ Den telling wannabe millionaires how to repeat his success.
The businessman runs an interesting sideline too as a motivational speaker.
He tells a group of Irish businesswomen in London, members of WIN, the Women’s
Irish Network, his philosophy in life.
“I ask myself constantly: ‘Can I?’ It’s my mantra. It stands for: Constant
And Never-ending Innovation in all that I do.”
He admits getting lost a few times life. But he says the most valuable
lesson he ever learned was finding out where you are going.
“Before I invented Yo! Sushi I was balancing on that tightrope of life.
It was getting difficult for me to step out of the comfort zone and be successful
at something.”
“But I knew that’s what I had to do. And to succeed at something you
have to be prepared to fail.”
And nearly fail he did before he hit on the idea of a chain of Japanese
sushi bars which was to make his fortune.
“But the negative side of my brain temporarily kicked in and I thought:
‘If sushi bars is such a good idea, why has no-one thought of it before?’
“Luckily my inner voice told me to calm down and I began building my
empire one step at a time.”
“I gave myself a three-month period. That’s nearly 100 days. And I knew
if I could chip away just a tiny bit each day; just one per cent each day,
then at the end of three months, that’s a 100 per cent improvement.”
Woodroffe’s plan paid off and he found there was a more positive voice
in his head every day. He acknowledges that the positive voice can be just
as big a delusion as the negative one.
But he adds: “This one feels good. It’s what makes you jump out of bed
and makes you want to go do things.”
Without a track record in the restaurant business and no real substantial
money available, the going was tough for Woodroffe. The banks were not willing
to cough up enough money but he had a few generous sponsors who helped.
Japanese firms like Honda loaned him a motorbike, which carried the Yo!
Sushi logo and colours around London. Sony gave him television sets for
the new restaurant. Nippon Airlines upgraded him on a Japanese flight.
This earned them all pride of place in big letters on the restaurant
window as the official sponsors.
With a touch of irony, Woodroffe says: “I looked at successful people
and realised there was no grand plan, but what they all had in common was
their ability to handle failure.”
“If successful people fail then I decided I should set some of my goals
to fail. I would set myself daily targets to fail. When I got six in the
bag I’d punch the air, knowing that only through failing, was the pathway
that would one day lead to success.”
Years later, Woodroffe’s YO! brand is fast becoming a household name.
He refers to the German philosopher Goethe and says this thought process
has helped to give him the positive energy he’s needed to succeed.
“When you know where you’re going, when you’re fully committed; the world
conspires to help and support you, in all sorts of ways that you would never
believe possible.”
For more information on WIN contact Trish McEntee on
trishmcentee@aol.com.
Simon Woodroffe CV
Left school at the age of 16 and spent 30 years in the entertainment
business.
His production companies in London and Los Angeles designed and staged
concerts for performers from The Moody Blues to Madness and Rod Stewart
to George Michael and events like Live Aid.
Yo! Sushi was founded in 1997 by Simon after an acquaintance suggested
he open a conveyor belt sushi bar with girls in PVC mini-skirts. Restaurants
followed in the department stores Harvey Nichols and Selfridges and across
London.
Latest sites are in Edinburgh and at Paddington Station — the precursor
of a roll out through airports and shopping malls worldwide.
Yo! Below first opened its doors in early 1999 featuring sunken tables,
self-serve beer, smoke extracting ashtrays, singing waitresses, tarot readings,
massage and bento meals.
Simon also is in great demand as a speaker at corporate events talking
about entrepreneurship, customer service and creativity.
AWARDS
2001 Retail Interiors Awards Best Food & Supermarket Design for Edinburgh.
2001 Retail Interiors Awards Most Outstanding Retail Experience for Edinburgh.
2001 Theme Best Marketing Award.
2000 Group Restaurateur of the Year.
1999 Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.
1998 Marketing Week Design Effectiveness Award.
|
