Mayfair Equity Partners, owner of the YO! sushi restaurant chain, Snowfox, and other related businesses, is changing the group’s name to The Snowfox Group to reflect the rapid growth of its United States’ business.
In addition, The Snowfox Group has retained bankers at Numis to advise on its strategic options ahead of a possible initial public offering (IPO), Sky News reported.
While declining to comment on the IPO speculation, a source close to the company confirmed the company’s name change.
The Snowfox Group brings together four businesses in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada: Snowfox, Taiko, Bento, and YO!, Smith said. YO!, which operates 65 restaurants, is known in the U.K. for its conveyor-belt Japanese-style restaurants.
“This is the next natural step for us, and reflects the growth and diversification of the Group under Mayfair and under Richard Hodgson’s leadership,” the source said. In addition, the Snowfox name reflects the “reach of the group (geographically and routes to market) with 75 percent of profits coming from the U.S."
In North America and the U.K., The Snowfox Group provides sushi to around 1,900 retailers such as Kroger, Loblaw’s, Walmart, Sobey’s, Waitrose, Sam’s Club, and Tesco.
“We are now the leading international, multi-channel Japanese food business, selling over 60 million trays of sushi a year,” the source said said.
The Snowfox Group supplies fresh, pre-packaged Japanese food to more than 3,700 foodservice and grocery outlets via its eight factory production sites.
Photo courtesy of EQRoy/Shutterstock
