SushiDog secures new funding to back UK expansion: Quick service sushi roll concept SushiDog has secured a further £1.3m of funding from backer Middleton Enterprises, with plans to reach 40 sites in the next five years, and build a national presence in the process.
In April, the company, which was founded in 2018 by Greg Ilsen and Nick Goldstein, opened its tenth, and largest site to date, on the former Notes Coffee site at 105 Tottenham Court Road in London.
The company said that the new funding – the third round from Middleton Enterprises, would help to accelerate the next phase of its growth as SushiDog aims to increase the rate of openings.
The business told Propel that it was in the process of finalising negotiations on its first regional site with “details to be confirmed later in the year”.
It said: “We’re looking to build out from London with satellite cities such as Cambridge, Oxford and Birmingham before expanding further afield. We still see significant expansion opportunities in London and have a pipeline of several locations we are working on, to open before the end of this year.”
Ilsen told Propel back in April: “We expect to open a further eight sites in the next 18 months, with continued expansion in London as well as our first locations out of London. We expect to open our first travel hub site in 2025 too. Our existing estate is trading significantly ahead of budget and our like-for-like sales are more than 20% up on last year.
We attribute our strong trading and growth to our exceptional head office team, management and team in the stores, who are laser focused on building SushiDog’s brand awareness and providing our customers with great food, service and value for money in an incredibly competitive market.”
Middleton Enterprises led a funding round of £612,000 in 2023, followed by a direct £800,000 investment in 2024.
James Middleton, investment manager at Middleton Enterprises, said: “This is our third investment into SushiDog. We made the decision to invest in the business again because it has a proven rollout model, based on predictable, repeatable growth.
It has constantly raised the bar, innovating and evolving with each new store, which gives us confidence in the next stage of growth that will see new sites appearing up and down the country.
We have a great relationship with the founders, who know that we’re willing to invest in a longer-term project, providing the necessary finance to help them with each phase of development.”
Ilsen said: “Middleton Enterprises provided the stability and finance we needed to scale quickly, to the extent that we are on track to generate more than £8m this financial year and now employ around 130 people. We’re in a good position and the latest round of funding will help us speed up our rate of growth.
Middleton Enterprises has an entrepreneurial spirit and it’s always been very supportive.
When it came on board we had four sites in London, we’ve recently opened our tenth store and now we’re looking to expand nationally, perhaps even internationally further down the line.”
Last August, Propel revealed that Richard Morris, the former chief executive of Tortilla, the UK’s largest fast-casual Mexican restaurant brand, had joined SushiDog as a non-executive director. Morris said he believed that SushiDog can do the same in the grab-and-go sushi category that Tortilla did with burritos. On the new funding, Morris said: “It’s an exciting time to be involved in SushiDog.
The founders Greg and Nick should be congratulated on what they’ve achieved so far. They have the backing of an investor with relevant industry experience that has helped them to carve out a niche in a crowded marketplace. They’re open to collaboration and they’ve leveraged their peer network to make some smart appointments that will support the next stage of growth.”
