About Simon

Simon Woodroffe OBE was born in February 1952. He’s a British Entrepreneur and
business guru, the founder of YO! Sushi, YOTEL and the YO! Company. 

First working in theatre, rock shows and television, Simon fell into a depression after his divorce from the mother of his daughter, Charlotte Woodroffe. Feeling “desperation” he returned to his childhood aim to become a millionaire. He conceived and created YO! Sushi, opening the first restaurant on Poland Street, Soho, in 1997. The venture succeeded, creating a chain of restaurants and popularising conveyor belt sushi in Britain.

YO! Sushi and YOTEL have become global brands and Simon continues, through the YO! Company, to conceive of new YO! ventures.

In 1999 Simon won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In recognition of his contribution to hospitality, Simon was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2006. As a result of his entrepreneurial success, Simon has developed a strong
reputation on the worldwide public speaking circuit. It’s reported that Simon “Speaks openly, avoiding business cliché and audiences find his story extremely inspiring and a catalyst for their own endeavours, be they in a large corporate setting or working at a start-up level.”

“Whether you are setting out and wondering what life will be like, struggling with what you have now or wanting to make change, I have been there too. In the wilderness years, the hard slog of building something up – whether that’s a business or a career – and in the glory days too, and even those are not all easy. That’s life and it’s business too, so if you can learn from me and my endeavours. I’d be glad to have you along for the ride, feel free to beg, borrow or steal from what I’ve been through. In Japan they don’t have a word for Good luck, but their version is “Keep Going” – I like that!”

Read Simon’s full BiYO!