This is when a major restaurant brand is reopening at Meadowhall in Sheffield – with a big change

The city’s outlet, which sits in the middle of the Park Lane mall at Meadowhall, will return on August 22 according to the firm’s latest update.

YO! Sushi has 59 restaurants and 10 concessions in the UK. While many of its branches have reopened and more are set to do so, the company intends to shut 19 sites with the loss of 250 jobs as part of a restructure driven by the coronavirus crisis.

Richard Hodgson, the chain's chief executive officer, has said it is ‘just not viable’ for the firm to ‘keep any sites that no longer perform’.

New safety measures will be in place when the Meadowhall restaurant reopens. One of the biggest will be an overhaul of the trademark conveyor belt which normally allows diners to choose dishes as it moves.

"We’ve revamped our kaiten belt for a social distancing world,” said YO! Sushi. “Once you’ve ordered your food and drinks, these will be delivered on the belt straight to your place and a nifty traffic light system lets you know when your food is on its way.”

The company added: “We’ll now be encouraging all our visitors to order and pay through their phones by scanning a QR code on their table. This reduces the amount of person to person contact needed, but we will of course have paper menus available if you don’t feel comfortable using a phone.

"We’re starting back with a slightly reduced menu which we hope you understand as it’s to help our teams deliver our mouth-watering classics as we get used to working within the new government guidelines.

"For those of you who want to be able to enjoy YO! from the comfort of your own homes, you’ll be able to order for delivery on Deliveroo or for click and collect from all our reopened sites.”

YO! Sushi started in 1997 in Soho, London. It has signed up to the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme offering half-price meals throughout August.

Editor's message: Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues. The Star is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here – www.thestar.co.uk/subscriptions – for unlimited access to Sheffield news and information online. Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.