The full story behind Itacho Sushi’s collapse

Itacho Sushi was a Hong Kong sushi brand that has been around for 22 years

Earlier this week, another name had been added to Singapore’s ever-growing list of F&B casualties.

Itacho Sushi shuttered all its remaining outlets here on Monday (Mar 16), following a spate of closures over the past year. 

The Hong Kong-based sushi chain’s last four outlets at Ion Orchard, Bugis Junction, The Star Vista, and Novena Square 2 are now listed as “permanently closed” on Google Maps. Its website, social media accounts, and mobile app have all been taken down—without any public announcement from the company.

Government records on the Bizfile portal show that Itacho BM, the Singapore-registered company behind the chain’s local operations, has been marked as “gazetted to be struck off” the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority’s Register of Companies. The notice was first published on Feb 13.

For a brand that has been around for 22 years—17 in Singapore—the silence was telling. We look back at how a chain that once drew crowds for “cheap and good” sushi ended up here, with no farewell and no explanation.

Itacho Sushi had over 40 outlets in three markets at its peak

Itacho Sushi was founded in Hong Kong by the late food entrepreneur Ricky Cheng Wai-tao, also known as “Ricky San” for his knowledge of Japanese dining culture.

Cheng’s culinary journey began in Japan, where he studied in his early years. He returned to Hong Kong in 1989 and launched his first venture, a Japanese pancake shop called Pancake House, in 1992. At its peak, the chain operated 20 branches, but it closed by 1996 as the pancake craze waned.

He then brought the Ajisen Ramen brand to Hong Kong via a franchise model in 1996 before co-founding the Itamae Sushi chain in 2004 and later launching Itacho Sushi in 2007.

In 2008, Cheng, who made frequent television appearances, even made history as the first non-Japanese winner of the annual tuna auction at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market, securing a bluefin tuna with a winning bid of HK$430,000 (approximately S$70,239).

He came to be known as “Tuna King” for four consecutive years since then. 

Cheng brought Itacho Sushi to Singapore in July 2009 as a subsidiary of Taste of Japan Group, the Hong Kong-founded parent company established in 2004. Local operations were managed by Itacho BM.

The sushi chain continued to expand steadily over the years.

At its peak around 2019, Itacho Sushi had a strong presence across Asia, with 10 outlets in Singapore, nearly 30 in Hong Kong, and additional locations in Japan—bringing its total to more than 40 restaurants across the three markets.

Together with Itamae Sushi, the chain reportedly generated over HK$40 million (around S$6.5 million) in annual revenue.

Legal battles & worsening health made Cheng step back

But Cheng’s success would not last. The sushi boss was embroiled in a series of legal battles over the years.

Before Itacho Sushi, Cheng had gone into business with siblings Daisy and Jason Poon. The three had worked together since 1996, when they brought Ajisen Ramen to Hong Kong.

In 2004, they joined forces again to launch Itamae Sushi under a company called Smart Wave Ltd, with Cheng as sole director and the Poons as shareholders.

After the success of the first Itamae Sushi branch, the siblings accused Cheng of opening six additional branches of Itamae Sushi in Hong Kong without their knowledge, each under a different company, where Cheng was the sole director and shareholder. He was also accused of opening competing chain Itacho Sushi without informing them. 

This resulted in a lawsuit filed by the Poons against Cheng in 2013. The siblings won, with the High Court finding that Cheng breached fiduciary duty in 2015. He lost the lawsuit and subsequent appeal in 2016 and was ultimately ordered to pay hefty legal costs and damages. 

Then came another blow.

In 2017, Cheng revealed he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He gradually stepped away from the business, and in Apr 2024, passed away in Tokyo at the age of 57.

That same year, Itacho Sushi quietly shut down all its outlets in Hong Kong, and its parent company, Taste of Japan, was deregistered. A Google search for its Japan outlets did not turn up any results, and it is unclear when they closed in Japan, too.

Commenting on the closure of Itacho Sushi’s Hong Kong outlets, Simon Wong Ka-wo, President of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said: “Following his death, nobody was left to take care of it.”

Wong added that the chain had been in decline for nearly a decade, worn down by prolonged legal disputes, the lasting damage of the pandemic, and ultimately, the loss of the man who built it.

Singapore, it turns out, simply seems like the last to go.

Good while it lasted

Following Itacho Sushi’s closure in Singapore, several netizens have taken to Reddit to share their thoughts on the Hong Kong-founded Japanese restaurant chain. 

Many reminisced fondly about its early years—a go-to spot for “cheap and good Japanese food” with its discount menu and generous portions. One user recalled it as “one of the few good Japanese restaurants with a large variety of Japanese food, not just sushi and ramen.”

However, in recent years, particularly after the COVID-19 period, the netizen added that the chain has been on a “huge downhill,” using “less fresh ingredients” and “making portion sizes smaller,” all while “increasing prices”—a sentiment corroborated by another internet user.

Another remarked that Itacho Sushi had simply joined the growing list of restaurants to “bite the dust” in Singapore—a market where Japanese dining options are endless, competition is fierce, and closures are anything but rare.

The full picture, however, is harder to pin down. Was it the legal battles that drained its founder? The pandemic that gutted foot traffic? The cost-cutting that eroded customer trust? Or the death of the one man who held it all together? Likely, some combination of all.

Whatever the reason, the quiet disappearance of a brand that fed Singaporeans for 17 years is telling—another reminder that in one of Asia’s most competitive dining markets, even long-standing names are never too big to vanish without a word.

• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

Featured Image Credit: Aldrin Tee via Google Reviews