Simon Woodroffe OBE (born 14 February 1952) is a British motivational speaker and entrepreneur. He started the sushi chain YO! Sushi in 1997, and has appeared as a 'Dragon' on the first UK series of Dragons' Den.
Simon left Marlborough College towards the end of the 1960s, at the age of 16, with 2 O-levels. He went on the road with the likes of Rod Stewart and The Moody Blues before becoming a stage designer.
After a spell in television, he conce...
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Simon Woodroffe OBE (born 14 February 1952) is a British motivational speaker and entrepreneur. He started the sushi chain YO! Sushi in 1997, and has appeared as a 'Dragon' on the first UK series of Dragons' Den.
Simon left Marlborough College towards the end of the 1960s, at the age of 16, with 2 O-levels. He went on the road with the likes of Rod Stewart and The Moody Blues before becoming a stage designer.
After a spell in television, he conceived and launched YO! Sushi in 1997. The business established conveyor belt sushi bars featuring call buttons, robot drinks trolleys, Japanese TV, self heating plates and other such novelties.
Woodroffe was able to launch the business without start-up capital. At the time that his first restaurant opened, despite having customers queuing down the block to get in, he could not get finance from his bank – and he preferred not to work with angel investors. Instead, Woodroffe went to his largest supplier and asked them for extended terms to pay...
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