Background information

When Denmark was closed down due to the COVID-19 crisis in March 2020, the company Letz Sushi had to close for 'eat-in' at all restaurants and send 50 employees home on wage compensation until the reopening in mid-May.

Letz Sushi is a sushi chain, which partly operates 20 restaurants located in a number of major Danish cities, and partly delivers retail sushi boxes under sister brands to approx. 800 supermarkets and grocery stores.

Letz Sushi currently employs a total of more than 200 employees, who are primarily kitchen and service staff in the chain's restaurants. In addition, there is a small number of employees in the chain's administration as well as the purchasing, warehousing and production unit in Copenhagen.

Content of measure

To compensate for the lost revenue, Letz Sushi bet heavily on increasing sales of take away from the restaurants instead. As part of this transformation, Letz Sushi therefore adapted their business model in a number of areas:

• They 'trimmed' the menu card with a focus on keeping the parts that sell best and are most take-away suitable (eg sushi rolls).
• They optimized the flow in the kitchen so that the staff can efficiently produce and deliver take away, while complying with authorities restrictions and the recommendations. The company has for example looked at how parts of the food can be prepared in advance, how the kitchen is decorated (e.g. to make room for a lot of take-away bags), and how the employees are placed in the kitchen.
• They focus on increasing revenue on weekdays. Discounts on take-away on weekdays have been introduced, and offers in the individual restaurant are targeted at the local audience. One example is restaurants located close to elementary schools that sell kid-friendly sushi rolls.
• They have strengthen the local anchoring by engaging in local trade associations.

Use of measure

According to a report from the Danish Industry Foundation, the business model adaptation due to the corona crisis has been a success. In fact, Letz Sushi has managed to increase revenue by about 20% during the closure compared to the same time the year before.

As part of success, the company has chosen to reorganize its restaurants so that the small restaurants now only provide take away, while the larger restaurants still have room for seated guests and at the same time provide take away.

Contents

• Other topics

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

No involvement.

Views and reactions

Not relevant.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 16 December 2020: Letz Sushi (genstartnu.dk)
• 30 September 2024: Letz Sushi er lukket (letzsushi.dk)