Can You Open an Australian Sushi Sushi Franchise in the UK?

By UKFO Editorial · 30 October 2026

Looking to bring Australia's popular Sushi Sushi brand across the globe to Britain? Here is what prospective UK franchisees need to know about international expansion, costs, and current availability.

The Short Answer: Can You Launch Sushi Sushi in the UK?

For UK entrepreneurs tracking global fast-casual trends, Australian quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands represent an attractive prospect. Among the most prominent of these is Sushi Sushi, an Australian market leader with over 150 locations across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia. However, if you are an individual prospective franchisee hoping to sign a standard single-unit franchise agreement in London, Manchester, or Birmingham today, the short answer is: not immediately through a standard franchise application.

At present, Sushi Sushi does not maintain an active operational footprint or a rolled-out single-unit recruitment programme in Great Britain. To introduce the brand into the United Kingdom, an investor or corporate group would typically need to negotiate an international Master Franchise Agreement or an Area Development Agreement with the brand's parent group, Odyssey Group. For single-unit operators looking for a turnkey sushi business today, alternative UK-established brands provide a more direct route to trading, though understanding the pathway to bringing an overseas powerhouse like Sushi Sushi across the hemisphere offers valuable insight into the mechanics of cross-border expansion.

Understanding the Sushi Sushi Model

Founded in 1998 in Box Hill, Melbourne, Sushi Sushi fundamentally changed how Australian consumers perceived grab-and-go Japanese fare. Rather than treating sushi as an expensive sit-down delicacy or a limp, pre-packaged supermarket sandwich alternative, the brand introduced theatrical, visible on-site rolling using premium ingredients such as Tasmanian salmon, seasoned koshihikari rice, and fresh avocado.

Their operational footprint relies heavily on high-footfall micro-units: compact shopping centre kiosks, transport hub concessions, and compact strip-mall stores. The business model features:

High stock turn: Products are made fresh on-site throughout trading hours to minimise overnight wastage and sustain premium pricing.
Optimised operational footprints: Many kiosks operate efficiently in spaces as small as 25 to 50 square metres, controlling commercial rents and service charges.
Speed of service: Designed for rapid hand-to-hand transactions, catering to time-poor office workers and shoppers looking for a healthy, high-protein alternative to traditional fast food.

Entering Britain: The Master Franchise Route

Bringing an overseas brand to the UK market involves a substantially different process than buying a domestic franchise. Franchisors based in Australasia rarely enter Britain by granting individual store licences directly from their home headquarters. Managing logistics, supply lines, lease negotiations, and legal disputes from twelve time zones away is commercially impractical.

Instead, market entry requires a Master Franchisee. Under this arrangement, an experienced UK-based operator or private equity vehicle purchases the exclusive developmental rights for the UK (or the UK and Ireland). The master franchisee essentially becomes the franchisor within British borders.

To successfully execute a master franchise roll-out of a concept like Sushi Sushi, an investor needs to possess:

Substantial capitalisation: Securing development rights, piloting initial corporate flagship sites, and establishing local infrastructure often requires unencumbered capital ranging from £1 million to upwards of £3 million.
Supply chain architecture: Securing reliable, food-grade raw fish, specialised vinegars, nori, and sushi machinery within the UK, navigating post-Brexit import controls and British cold-chain logistics.
Central Production Units (CPUs): Depending on the UK adaptation, the brand might require a dedicated production hub to supply semi-prepared bases to smaller high-street satellite kiosks.
Real estate prowess: High-density UK footfall zones—such as Network Rail stations, London Underground retail units, and Westfield centres—are fiercely contested and demand established landlord relationships.

UK Franchise Regulation vs Australian Legislation

Prospective operators familiar with the Australian franchise ecosystem must adapt to a starkly different regulatory landscape in Great Britain. Australia enforces the Franchising Code of Conduct, a rigorous mandatory statutory regime overseen by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

By contrast, the UK has no sector-specific franchise legislation. There is no statutory cooling-off period mandated by an Act of Parliament, nor is there any state-mandated disclosure document requirement. Instead, the British franchise sector is self-regulating, largely guided by industry standards championed by organisations such as the Quality Franchise Association (QFA) and the British Franchise Association.

In Britain, prospective franchise buyers rely on:

Comprehensive Franchise Prospectuses and Information Packs: Ethical franchisors provide detailed disclosure packs covering trading performance, operational duties, and unit economics, though they do so under general British commercial and contract law rather than a prescriptive statutory template.
Common Law Protections: UK franchisees are protected against misleading advertising and fraudulent statements through the Misrepresentation Act 1967 and standard contractual dispute mechanisms.
Intellectual Property Registration: A non-UK brand must ensure its trademarks, logos, and proprietary operating manuals are fully registered with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) prior to licensing the concept to UK operators.

The UK Sushi and Asian QSR Landscape

Any entrepreneur considering introducing an Australian sushi concept must assess Britain's mature, competitive food-to-go landscape. While sushi was once considered niche in the UK, it is now an entrenched staple across office districts, retail parks, and residential travel corridors.

A concept entering the UK faces well-funded, highly sophisticated competition:

Established High-Street Giants: Brands such as Itsu and Wasabi have spent decades refining fast-casual sushi, hot noodle, and bento offerings in dense city centres, controlling critical commercial real estate.
Rapidly Expanding Franchise Models: Concepts like Kokoro have proven that suburban high streets and provincial towns have a strong appetite for combination sushi and hot Asian QSR dishes, deploying scalable franchise models across the country.
The Conveyor and Experiential Sector: YO! Sushi continues to maintain an influential presence in major shopping malls and urban destinations, blending dine-in theatre with takeaway kiosk offerings.

To carve out a defendable market share, Sushi Sushi would need to leverage its artisanal Australian brand heritage, focusing heavily on grab-and-go hand rolls—a sub-segment that is exceptionally popular in Melbourne and Sydney but remains less saturated across mid-sized British towns and regional transport hubs.

Financial Requirements and Securing UK Funding

Were the brand to launch a domestic franchise recruitment drive in the UK, the financial profile would likely mirror comparable food-and-beverage kiosk models. Launching a single quick-service sushi outlet in a UK high street or shopping centre typically requires a total capital investment of between £130,000 and £260,000, depending on unit size, extraction needs, and fit-out complexity.

Financially, an operator must budget for standard British franchise fee structures:

Initial Franchise Fee: Usually between £15,000 and £30,000 plus VAT for single-unit trading rights.
Management Service Fees (Royalty): Generally structured as an ongoing payment of 5% to 7% of net weekly turnover.
Marketing Levy: Typically 1% to 2% directed toward national or regional brand promotion.
Premises Fit-Out and Equipment: The capital expenditure required for commercial-grade sushi rolling machines, refrigeration decks, POS equipment, and digital ordering boards.

For established UK franchise networks, major clearing banks—including NatWest, HSBC, and Barclays—frequently lend up to 50% to 70% of the total start-up capital, subject to the applicant providing sufficient personal equity, clean credit, and a robust business plan. However, for a newly imported foreign brand lacking a UK trading history, high-street banks are inherently more cautious. In such instances, funding generally relies heavily on private capital, asset finance for equipment, or government-backed schemes like the British Business Bank Start Up Loans programme for smaller single-unit operations.

Viable Next Steps for UK Franchise Prospects

If you are an investor looking to bring Sushi Sushi to the UK, your primary course of action is to approach Odyssey Group's international development arm to open high-level discussions regarding UK Master Franchising or development rights. This route requires demonstrated executive capability in food-and-beverage multi-site operations, strong commercial property relationships, and deep capital reserves.

If you are a prospective franchisee seeking an immediate, operational business opportunity within Britain's thriving Asian food-to-go market, your most sensible path is to explore the existing franchised networks currently operating across the country. Opportunities in brands specialising in sushi, pan-Asian noodles, or bubble tea allow you to step into verified supply chains, established UK trademark protections, and readily available high-street bank funding.

Before entering any franchise agreement in the UK, conduct thorough due diligence. Commission an accredited franchise solicitor to review the franchise agreement, inspect the franchisor's historical corporate accounts, speak with existing franchisees in the network, and prepare an independent cash-flow forecast adjusted for local footfall, energy costs, and commercial business rates.