Simon Woodroffe founded YO! Sushi before joining the original Dragon's Den panel.
Woodroffe established YO! Sushi in London in 1997. The restaurant became known for serving dishes from a rotating conveyor belt, allowing customers to choose food as it passed their table. The concept helped introduce a highly visible and fast-moving style of sushi dining to the British restaurant market.
Woodroffe became one of the five original dragons when the British series premiered in 2005. His background made him a distinctive member of the panel: he brought experience in hospitality, branding and customer-facing service rather than only conventional finance or manufacturing.
YO! Sushi is often written as YO Sushi or remembered simply as a sushi chain, but the company's stylised name is YO! Sushi. The answer is Simon Woodroffe, not a later investor who backed a food business on the programme. He eventually left the Dragon's Den panel, while the restaurant brand continued under later ownership.