Hokkaido Sushi: Hobart’s Eric Yang to open fifth and sixth stores

A Hobart commerce graduate will open his fifth and sixth Tasmanian sushi restaurants in the next six weeks. And he says further expansion is on the cards. FIND OUT WHERE >>

A commerce graduate who moved to Hobart on a whim after falling in love with the state during a uni-break holiday will open his fifth and sixth sushi restaurants in the coming weeks.

Howrah man Eric Yang, aged in his early thirties, is one of three business partners behind Hokkaido Sushi, which currently has stores at Hobart City, Northgate Shopping Centre, Eastlands Shopping Centre and Launceston.

A second Launceston sushi train, replacing the shuttered Gloria Jeans in the Brisbane St Mall, will open in approximately a fortnight, while a new Howrah restaurant is slated to open on August 3.

He estimated the two new restaurants would create a combined 25-plus new jobs.

Mr Yang, who was born in China and studied commerce in Adelaide, told the Mercury he fell in love with Tasmania’s “beautiful” scenery and its mild weather while on holiday.

“During the summer, Adelaide was 42 degrees, crazy, here it’s 26–27 degrees,” he said.

While sushi trains were a dime-a-dozen in Adelaide, he noticed Hobart’s Japanese scene was much less crowded so hatched his business idea in 2018.

“There were only one or two sushi trains in Hobart, so I saw there was an opportunity for the business to grow,” he said.

However, it was never Mr Yang’s intention to become a sushi mogul.

“I was not focused on my career but you have to do something,” he said.

Mr Yang said the key to top sushi is “good quality ingredients” – he sources his chicken from Sassafras supplier Nichols Poultry and salmon from Huon Aquaculture, with other ingredients imported from Japan.

Mr Yang said he hoped to further expand the Hokkaido Sushi brand into Tasmania’s North West, especially Devonport and Burnie, but that those plans would have to hold until inflationary pressures eased.

He said construction costs for the new Howrah and Brisbane St Mall stores had “almost doubled”, while salmon costs had increased 60 per cent, chicken 20 per cent and Japanese imports 15–30 per cent.