Danish-Japanese premium restaurant group Sticks’n’Sushi has said its UK performance has continually improved through 2025 as it reported turnover of £86,822,861 for the period from 16 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 – its first year since McWin, the backer of Gail’s and Big Mamma Group, acquired a majority stake.
Adjusted Ebitda stood at £6,611,000 while Sticks’n’Sushi posted a pre-tax loss of £9,759,602. Three new restaurants opened in the period – all in London, in Richmond, Islington and Battersea Power Station – taking the group to 15 sites in the UK and 30 in total.
Sticks’n’Sushi said 2024 represented a year of “transformational change” with multiple sales records were broken over this period including all-time highs on New Year’s Eve 2024 and Valentine’s Day 2025. All three countries where the group operates – the UK, Denmark and Germany – delivered sales growth in 2024 and the business said this momentum has continued into 2025.
There was a full refurbishment of the company’s restaurant in Valby in Copenhagen – the first since 2021 – as well as the continued development of its loyalty programme “Frequent Fisher” and the launch of breakfast offering “Sticks’n’Sunrise” at the One Hundred Shoreditch hotel in London.
Chief financial officer Kushal Banerjee said that overall trading in the first seven months of 2025 has been “very encouraging”. He said: “In the UK, our largest country, performance has continually improved through the calendar year with June and July especially strong.
The dine-in business has been steady, with growth underpinned by our delivery business and our business-to-business/catering channel, which has been a shining light this year. Our ability to execute a high quality proposition outside of the restaurant is unparalleled and we believe this continues to be an untapped opportunity for us going forward.
Denmark continues to be steady, building upon a highly successful 2024. Germany is in double digit like-for-like growth and significantly outperforming the broader market. In both countries, we are opening up the business-to-business channel following the lead of the UK while continuing to develop the catering side which has always featured in Denmark.”
Sticks’n’Sushi said delivery and takeaway continues to grow across all three geographies while its business-to-business and catering arms is rapidly accelerating, up 37% in the year-to-date, “with significant runway to continue”. To help mitigate cost increases, the group is running handheld technology trials and expects to roll these out later this year and aiming to optimise rota scheduling.
Banerjee added: “Despite these pressures, we have invested significantly in our digital platform and in our central team in the past 18 months to ensure that we can successfully deliver the growth plan over the coming years. We firmly believe that quality will always prevail and enjoy the support of our shareholders in taking this long-term view.”
A new restaurant is set to open in Glasgow this year and Banerjee said the pipeline was “strong” with further openings anticipated in 2026.
Chief executive Andreas Karlsson said: “I am tremendously proud of the progress we have made and the many achievements over the last 18 months. We opened three new restaurants successfully and, in the process, created almost 200 jobs, on top of which we launched a breakfast offering and continued to deliver an outstanding level of service and food quality in the like-for-like estate.
Supporting the dine-in sales, the team have also grown our business-to-business and catering sales, demonstrating the quality of our proposition across all occasions.”
He added: “We also launched our first major refresh of our menu for more than three years in October 2024. All of this is only possible thanks to the incredible passion and hard work of 1,400 team members across Denmark, Germany and the UK.
The first year under McWin’s ownership has been a productive one and we are well placed to extend our presence across the UK and Europe, bringing an affordable premium experience to many more guests in the coming years.”
Founded in Denmark in 1994 by Thor Andersen, Kim Rahbek Hansen and Jens Rahbek Hansen, Sticks’n’Sushi also operates 12 restaurants in Denmark, three in Germany, and three catering and delivery kitchens.
