Sushi by Bou brings omakase to the masses
Awarded annually, Hot Concepts recognize emerging chains from around the U.S. that have impressive growth momentum and the potential to become household names.
The concept offers affordable luxury thanks to its model of finding small, underutilized space.
July 14, 2026
Got an unused storage space? A basement alcove? A hidden corner that’s not serving any purpose? Why not open a sushi bar there?
That’s the idea behind Sushi by Bou, which opened its first restaurant in 2017 in a 300-square-foot luggage storage room at the Sanctuary Hotel, a boutique property in Times Square in New York City. It seats nine guests.
Since then the concept has grown to 22 locations, with more restaurants slated in the coming year.
“The goal was always to be an affordable luxury,” said CEO Erika London, who founded Sushi by Bou with business partner Michael Sinensky and chef David Bouhadana (the Bou in the restaurant’s name).
Guests can get in and out in less than an hour at a starting price of $60.
The products are the same as what you’d find at other omakase restaurants, and the meals are prepared by trained sushi chefs — who also have to be personable since they’re working at a high-energy sushi counter — but by operating in tiny spaces that no one else wants, the overhead is low.
Most of the restaurants are in hotels and function as amenities for guests as well as cool, hidden spaces that locals enjoy discovering.
And the venues thrive when they’re kind of quirky and a little hard to find.
“We’ve taken a liquor room, a corner of a hallway that we kind of just built a room into … for our Salt Lake City location you have to walk through a bookcase,” London said. “At our Times Square location you have to walk down the sidewalk and go literally underground into this speakeasy-like room.”
And that’s part of the fun, she said.
“For the hotels, it’s a win-win, because the more undesirable a space it is for them, the more desirable it is for us,” London said. “And the cost is negligible.”
Generally the hotels pay for the build-outs, which London said average $400 per square foot, and most spaces are 500-750 square feet.
They also generally have profit-sharing arrangements with the hotels, although London said it varies by location.
The concept started as a series of pop-ups at restaurants and other venues. “We used to be in Gianni Versace’s bedroom, for example,” London said.
At other times they took over private party rooms or a corner of a bar. And in fact their Albany, N.Y., location is in a corner of The City Beer Hall.
But soon they landed on the hotel model, partnering with Marriott and Hyatt, among others.
Today they operate in Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington, D.C., with openings slated for later this year in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia, as well as expansion within existing markets.
One Sushi by Bou is at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and London expects similar locations going forward.
“We have a couple of golf resorts that we are opening this year as well, but they can’t be named yet,” she said.
Although customers can get in and out in an hour for $60, they don’t have to, and they often don’t.
“We always have a lounge in the space, and guests are encouraged to come before their seating and enjoy some cocktails, or stay after the seating and enjoy more cocktails or some dessert,” London said. “And a lot of our locations have karaoke, so they stay for that.”
They can also upgrade to a 17-course tasting or add premium items such as wagyu beef, bone marrow, caviar bumps, and spiked “Bouzy” ice cream developed in collaboration with Aubi & Ramsa, which specializes in that.
The main menu is consistent across all locations, but chefs get to be creative with the extra five dishes.
“Those are typically seasonal fish flown in from Japan,” London said. “So there's a lot of variety, and that's exciting for the regulars as well as for the chefs.”
And there are quite a few regulars. Because it’s comparatively affordable, and fun, London said some guests visit frequently.
“We have people coming in weekly, biweekly, once a month. We have a great number of regulars that we love seeing often at all the locations,” she said.
Many of the chefs are hired at the recommendations of chefs that currently work there.
“They're getting paid well, the hours are good, and I think the best part is that the chefs behind our counter, because they're customer-facing, they need to love what they're doing. Because if they don't, our experience kind of falls flat,” London said.
“So the beauty is that we keep our team happy and they're engaging with the customer base, and that makes for a really memorable experience.”
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
Follow him on TikTok and Instagram: @foodwriterdiary
About the Author
Bret Thorn
Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News
Senior Food & Beverage Editor
Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.
Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications.
He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities, and other experts in foodservice operations.
From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.
He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN.
A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.
He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.
Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.
He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.
A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends.
Bret Thorn’s Experience:
Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989
Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986
Email: [email protected]
Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary
TikTok: @foodwriterdiary
Content Spotlight
The Technomic Top 500: Another tough year for chain restaurants
Top 500 chain restaurant sales slowed again in 2025 as consumers cut back on dining, but sectors like coffee, beverages and snacks and chicken thrived
Featured
Jul 8, 2026
Jul 2, 2026
Recent News
Content Spotlight
Get to know Rick Cardenas, the Darden CEO who started there as a busser
The executive shares his advice, along with his most-binged TV show, favorite sports team, and most-used app
Source: This story originated with Nation's Restaurant News.
View Original Article →