Sushi Ninja Closes PledgeMe Funding Round With Over $250,000 Invested

New Plymouth restaurant, Sushi Ninja, recently closed its equity crowdfunding campaign on PledgeMe. The company was seeking $150,000 for its new Kaizen sushi convey-belt style diner at Centre City shopping center. The initiative was successful and raised $250,000 from 32 investors.

As previously reported, wife/husband co-owners of Sushi Ninja, Sophie and Ken Kurota, stated they have been making authentic Japanese sushi on the plains of Mt Taranaki since setting up shop nearly 14 years ago.

“In 2003, we came from Auckland, after hearing that The Last Samurai movie was to be filmed here. Even though we thought we would mainly be catering for actors, extras, and other movie personnel, we ended up having a local cult following asking us to start a restaurant here. Two and a half years later, we opened Sushi Ninja restaurant on the main road in Central New Plymouth.”

Sophie shared:

“Everything that we have done since we parked our original food truck on the set of the Last Samurai has been driven by our customers. We’re now delighted to be able to give them a chance to join our journey as investors, and snap up some extra perks, like sushi vouchers and private sushi workshops, too. For a long time, we’ve had people asking us to create a conveyor-belt sushi diner and we’re now very close to making that real. Sushi Ninja Express will be a modern, vibrant and affordable place for young families, teenagers and all sushi-lovers to enjoy an immersive dining experience. A conveyor belt surrounding the open plan central kitchen carries the plated sushi around the restaurant and customers grab whichever plates catch their eye. It’s great fun, especially for groups.”

The duo added that the Sushi Ninja Express diner, which is the sister to their existing Sushi Ninja restaurant and sake bar, will be considered the first of its kind in Taranaki and the first in New Zealand to be located in a shopping center.