noodle bar founded 1992 founder alan yau headquarters london united kingdom number of locations 140 area served global owner duke street capital website http www.wagamama.com wagamama stylized as wagamama a british headquartered restaurant chain serving asian food inspired by the flavours of japan . contents 1 history 2 brand 3 features 4 environmental record 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit created by alan yau who subsequently created the chinese restaurants hakkasan and yauatcha in london the first wagamama opened in 1992 in bloomsbury london . 1 wagamama opened at a time when few people thought the restaurant sector was worth investing in although the critical acclaim and commercial success the restaurant received soon changed that belief . 2 the first restaurant in bloomsbury was designed by stiff and trevillion architects who were subsequently involved in the design of 10 further restaurants . 3 one of the partners of the architectural practice michael stiff stated wagamama really pushed back the boundaries and rejuvenated what had become an extremely jaded industry . as well as being completely different from a design point of view the prices of the meals were also significantly lower than those of other london restaurants at the time . 2 in 2005 then owner graphite capital sold a majority stake of 77.5 % to lion capital llp for 103 million . 4 in 2011 the chain was sold to duke street capital for an estimated sum of 215m . 5 in 2013 wagamama opened their 100th restaurant in the converted hammersmith fire station a 1913 built grade ii listed building at 190 192 shepherd s bush road hammersmith london w6 7nl . 6 7 as of april 2016 the chain includes 140 restaurants 8 with 120 being in the uk . other restaurants are located in belgium cyprus denmark gibraltar greece ireland kuwait malta the netherlands new zealand qatar slovakia sweden switzerland turkey the uae and the united states . the first site in streatham street bloomsbury london closed permanently on 19 june 2016 . 9 brand edit the word wagamama is japanese for self indulgent self centered selfish disobedient or willful . 10 wagamama has released 2 cookbooks in order to further extend their brand . wagamama believes in a japanese philosophy called kaizen which they say shapes every dish we create and pushes us to find better ways in all that we do . we re restless spirits . forever creating and making things better . 11 12 wagamama has a belief in serving fresh food as soon as it s ready with menus being updated seasonally . 11 features edit hammersmith fire station interior 2014 wagamama has a number of features that have since been adopted by many restaurants . orders are taken via pdas and wirelessly networked to the kitchen . once orders are taken food order numbers are written on customers paper place mats and food is delivered to the table once cooked which means dishes are not necessarily served at the same time . 13 customers sit on either side of large tables seating as many as 16 people at one table . 14 environmental record edit in november 2015 the chain was one of seven restaurants surveyed that failed to meet a basic level of sustainability in its seafood . 15 see also edit list of japanese restaurants references edit about wagamama . wagamama . retrieved 9 october 2012 . a b arguably the saviour of the restaurant stiff and trevillion p. 36 37 . . chill magazine . 2001 . wagamama . stiff trevillion . 2010 . brendan scott 4 november 2010 . investcorp and morgan stanley to tuck into wagamama . real deals . retrieved 9 october 2012 . duke street buys wagamama from lion capital . unquote.com . 1 april 2011 . retrieved 9 october 2012 . historic england hammersmith fire station 1079777 national heritage list for england retrieved 31 august 2014 the caterer wagamama opens its 100th restaurant the caterer accessdate 02 09 2014 global map . wagamama . retrieved 25 january 2014 . http www.wagamama.com restaurants tottenham court road british museum google translate . google https translate.google.com auto en % e3 % 82 % 8f % e3 % 81 % 8c % e3 % 81 % be % e3 % 81 % be . retrieved 10 july 2016 . missing or empty title help a b http www.wagamama.com about us definition . bab.la . wagamama increases customer satisfaction and food and beverage sales with symbol technologies mobile computers . pr newswire . retrieved 9 october 2012 . pennington robson portfolio . archived from the original on 2010 09 14 . retrieved 2012 10 09 . see photo on page . http www.theguardian.com environment 2015 nov 18 family restaurant chains unsustainable seafood wagamama bella italia external links edit official uk website official us website media related to wagamama at wikimedia commons v t e food chains in the united kingdom casual dining angus steakhouse ask beefeater grill bella italia brewers fayre byron hamburgers caf rouge carluccio s chiquito damon s ed s easy diner frankie & benny s giraffe gourmet burger kitchen harry ramsden s harvester hungry horse la tasca little chef loch fyne restaurants nando s ok diner pizza hut pizzaexpress prezzo strada table table taybarns t.g.i. friday s toby carvery tony roma s wagamama wahaca wildwood kitchen zizzi fast food barburrito burger king chicken cottage chipotle mexican grill dixy chicken domino s pizza five guys kfc mcdonald s morley s papa john s pizza sam s chicken sbarro southern fried chicken subway taco bell tops pizza tortilla wasabi wimpy yo sushi baked goods auntie anne s cinnabon cooplands ditsch dunkin donuts eat greggs krispy kreme millie s cookies patisserie valerie pret a manger sayers spudulike upper crust the west cornwall pasty company coffee shops and tea rooms amt coffee betty s caff nero caff ritazza coffee 1 coffee republic costa coffee harris hoole starbucks dairy baskin robbins ben & jerry s kaspa s shakeaway pub chains all bar one chef & brewer o neill s scream pubs slug and lettuce walkabout wetherspoons yates s retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wagamama & oldid 743718981 categories restaurants established in 1992restaurants in londonrestaurant groups in the united kingdomjapanese cuisinejapanese restaurantschinese community in the united kingdom1992 establishments in the united kingdomnoodle restaurantshidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlsuse dmy dates from august 2012commons category without a link on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages 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