Japanese restaurant Wasabi has written to landlords to request amending its rent payment agreements.
It has asked its landlords if it can switch to monthly rents rather than quarterly in advance as is standard, a move that helps retailers and restaurateurs with cashflow issues.
In the UK, the restaurant has 43 locations in central London, as well as eight outside the capital and concessions in five Marks & Spencer stores.
A spokesman said: “Wasabi has an ambitious expansion programme planned for 2018 and 2019 and has asked landlords for a change in rent payment agreements, in line with many other UK retailers, in order to allow the company to manage funds more efficiently.”
Its request to pay monthly rents is a hark back to a decade ago in the wake of the financial crisis when a group of retailers, led by Arcadia owner Philip Green, entered discussions with landlords to move to the system in order to ease the strain on occupiers.
Wasabi is the latest in a growing number of restaurant and leisure operators to request concessions from landlords as the sector comes under pressure from rising labour costs, increased business rates and fierce competition.
Since the start of the year restaurants including burger chain Byron, coffee and sandwich specialist Eat and Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Italian have all agreed CVAs with their landlords.
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