Known for blending bold growth with deep cultural roots, Sticks’n’Sushi is no stranger to ambition.
With 30 restaurants spanning Europe — including 15 around London, 12 in Copenhagen, and three in Berlin — and a dedicated team of 1,500 staff, the premium dining brand has successfully scaled while staying true to its unique half-Japanese, half-Danish heritage.
However, at the start of 2024, following new private equity ownership, the company stepped into a new era of rapid expansion and organisational transformation.
To navigate this acceleration without losing its strong cultural DNA, Sticks’n’Sushi is investing in coaching-led leadership development.
We sat down with Sticks’n’Sushi’s People Director, Nick Eaton, to unpack how coaching and culture are helping to shape this next chapter of the company’s journey.
From family-owned to private equity-backed
Sticks’n’Sushi was founded in Copenhagen in 1994 by brothers Jens and Kim Rahbek Hansen and their brother-in-law, Thor Andersen. The original restaurant still operates today, and the brand has grown steadily, expanding into London in 2012 and Berlin in 2017.
Before 2013, Sticks’n’Sushi was privately owned and operated by its founders. Drawing inspiration from their half-Japanese, half-Danish heritage, they created a unique dining experience fusing sushi and yakitori — deeply rooted in tradition yet open to experimentation.
From steady steps to strategic leaps
In 2013, Sticks’n’Sushi sold a stake to Maj Invest Equity to support international expansion, particularly in the UK. Maj later increased its stake and guided the business through a decade of measured growth.
Then came a turning point. In January 2024, McWin Capital Partners bought a 95% stake from Maj Invest Equity for €76 million. It marked the end of a ten-year journey and the beginning of a bold new growth agenda.
“Maj helped us open one new restaurant at a time, build each business, and reinvest the profits into the next opening. McWin wants us to significantly expand over six years,” explains Nick. “It’s a transition from slow and sensible to rapid, exciting ambition — but it requires a shift in mindset. That can be quite scary for some people.”
Taking people on the journey
Sticks’n’Sushi prides itself on having people who have worked there for all 31 years, which is great for company culture and embedding brand DNA. However, ambitious growth requires a change in mindset. Nick’s leadership team needed to find a way to instil independent thinking and a risk-taking mentality throughout management.
He explains: “Our General Managers are vital to our success, but as we open in more cities, we won’t be able to support them in the same hands-on way we do now. We need to elevate them into leaders who can make decisions confidently, communicate clearly with their teams, set high standards, and work more remotely.”
“To achieve this, we’ve developed six leadership descriptors and outlined what great leadership looks like for Sticks’n’Sushi. Mindbeat has provided group coaching around these leadership credentials as well as one-to-one coaching.”
“For many General Managers, this will have been the first time they’ve experienced individual coaching. They now each have an eight-month programme that will take them from a day-to-day sales mindset to focusing on what they need to improve as future leaders.”
“As a leadership team, we also have to elevate ourselves to allow people to try new things, take risks, and make mistakes — so that they can learn and grow. Our CEO has also been working with Mindbeat to prepare himself for the broader challenges and decision-making we now face as an organisation experiencing rapid change.”
The importance of cultural identity
It’s no secret that McWin wants to make money from its investment. Its experience and expertise lie in ‘quick service restaurants’ like Burger King, Popeyes, and Pizza Hut — metrics-driven, KPI-focused businesses. But Sticks’n’Sushi is different. It has a deep-rooted cultural DNA, reflected in the way employees refer to things, how they speak with each other, and the words they use. McWin has bought into this.
Nick explains: “One example is that we refer to our staff as ‘fish’ and newcomers as ‘new fish joining the shoal.’ We have Japanese table numbers, so our staff have to learn basic Japanese to work here. Each restaurant has a wooden monkey, which is synonymous with almost every Danish household. If a child finds the wooden monkey in one of our restaurants, they are rewarded with a chocolate fish.”
As a result, staff retention at Sticks’n’Sushi is better than many other high-street restaurant chains.
“We find that the people who stay with us are curious,” Nick concludes. “They love the detail they have to learn. We need our ‘fish’ to know every element of every dish on the menu, plus the origins of where the ingredients have come from.”
“There are restaurant jobs that are much simpler for the same wage, but if you’re fascinated by cultural rituals and have a desire to understand the food you’re serving, then Sticks’n’Sushi is such a rewarding place to work.”
Final thought
In a world where rapid growth often leads to cultural dilution, Sticks’n’Sushi demonstrates that with the right leadership, growth and heritage can thrive together.
By investing in coaching-led leadership development, the brand ensures that its cultural identity remains strong as it expands. It’s a powerful reminder that scaling fast doesn’t mean losing sight of what makes a brand unique — it’s about nurturing leaders who can grow both the business and its culture.