CloudKitchens customer spotlight: SushiStop

With over 10 locations across LA, SushiStop has become well-known in Southern California as an authentic sushi spot with high-quality, fresh ingredients. The sushi chain is owned by Yusuke Sekiguchi, who strives to bring a variety of popular sushi rolls to the LA metropolitan area. The SushiStop menu features traditional Japanese dishes as well as their own signature sushi such as a Spicy Tuna Guacamole Roll and Baked Salmon Roll with a signature sauce. Yusuke and his team strive to bring the same experience that customers would have dining in as they would with takeout and delivery. 

Before SushiStop launched with CloudKitchens, they struggled to expand their brand to other brick-and-mortar locations in the LA area, especially when the pandemic hit. They even considered putting their plans for expansion on hold until the pandemic was over. The dark kitchen business model offered the perfect solution to help them keep growing their restaurant business. Now Yusuke has been able to expand to two new locations with CloudKitchens, with plans to continue expanding to others in LA. He’s been able to see a much faster ROI through ghost kitchens, being able to handle more orders at a time with one single tablet. Here’s what Yusuke has to say about his CloudKitchens experience and why he recommends partnering with us:

Q: Why did you join CloudKitchens?

A: When the pandemic hit, we were unsure if we would be able to continue to expand to new markets. Delivery was difficult at our brick-and-mortar locations with the coordination of staff and customers to care for with dine-in. Now, we can focus on producing our orders efficiently for delivery.

Q: How has your business grown since starting with CloudKitchens?

A: In expanding our business, CloudKitchens has been very helpful for us because it takes a very long time to establish a brick-and-mortar restaurant location. But with CloudKitchens, you’re ready to move in and start your operation very quickly.

Q: What was life like before CloudKitchens? What is it like now?

A: Before CloudKitchens, we were struggling to expand to other markets, especially during the pandemic. We were just about to expand into two new markets when COVID-19 hit. We almost put this on pause but decided to move forward with our expansion with CloudKitchens, and we ended up doing better than we did before the pandemic.

Q: Would you recommend CloudKitchens to others in the restaurant industry? Why?

A: Yes, I would recommend CloudKitchens to people in the restaurant industry. CloudKitchens makes it very easy for us to operate, such as helping with cleaning and order fulfillment. We don’t have to leave the kitchen to hand off each order to the correct delivery driver, that is handled for us. It makes it possible for us to be very efficient, which means our deliveries will arrive fresh and ready to eat.

SushiStop has seen a faster ROI since expanding to two new locations through delivery. They’ve even started to see a return after only two months of operation in one of our CloudKitchens facilities. Now, SushiStop has been able to stay on track with its expansion plans while generating a higher return.

Ready to make the switch to ghost kitchens? Whether you’re looking for a ghost kitchen in Orlando, Miami, NYC or more, CloudKitchens has a variety of options to fit your restaurant’s needs.