St Pierre's Sushi

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St Pierres Sushi
Company typeLimited company
IndustryFood and Hospitality
FoundedAugust 25, 1984;41 years ago (1984-08-25) in Wellington, New Zealand
Founder
Headquarters
Auckland
,
New Zealand
Area served
New Zealand
ProductsSushi, Bento Bowl, K10 Sushi Train
Website stpierres.online

St Pierres Sushi is a New Zealand owned and operated sushi chain that was established since 1984 by brothers Nick, Costa, and Perry Katsoulis. [1] In 2025, the chain has 80 stores across New Zealand. [2]

Contents

History

St Pierre's Sushi store in South Dunedin. St Pierre's Sushi South Dunedin, 4 Nov 2024.jpg
St Pierre's Sushi store in South Dunedin.

St Pierres Sushi originated as a delicatessen and seafood store in Wellington in 1984. [3] [4] The restaurant's name St Pierres was derived from the French name for the New Zealand fish John Dory, and also refers to St Peter, the patron saint of fishermen. In 1992, St Pierres began selling sushi. [3] A year later, the chain formed a partnership with the Japanese food exporter, The Tokyo Mutual Trading Company, for the supplies of traditional Japanese condiments in sushi making. [3]

According to academics Rumi Sakamoto and Matthew Allen, St Pierres provided a template for the emergence of "Kiwi standard sushi" by marketing sushi as a "healthy, value-for-money lunch option able to compete with other ethnic food court options". [5]

Since 1993, St Pierres opened sushi and Bento Bowl restaurants across New Zealand in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. [3] By November 2008, St Pierres had 28 stores in the major centres of New Zealand, including a store in Ponsonby, Auckland. [6]

St Pierres went on to opened a new store in New Plymouth in December 2016, which created new jobs [7] and in November 2019, a new store in Invercargill. [8]

The sushi chain opened the country's first sushi drive-through restaurant [4] in 2022 at Onehunga, Auckland. By February 2023, St Pierres Sushi had 69 stores across New Zealand including new stores in Tauranga, Ashburton, Nelson and Karaka in South Auckland. To boost growth, St Pierres introduced bento bowls to its online menu and in-store self-service kiosks. In 2023, the chain also signed on with food delivery service UberEats to bring sushi and bento bowl to the comfort of the customers' home. [9]

In November 2024, on popular demand, the sushi chain opened its first store in Dunedin. [10] In July 2025, St Pierres opened a second drive-through restaurant in Hastings. [11]

References

  1. ↑ "Stuff". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  2. ↑ Priestley, Laine (19 August 2023). "Sushi chain's first foray into city under construction". Otago Daily Times . Archived from the original on 19 August 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Our Story". St Pierre's Sushi. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  4. 1 2 Shaw, Aimee (20 February 2018). "St Pierre's to open New Zealand-first drive-thru sushi store in Auckland". The New Zealand Herald .{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ Smith, Alex (9 August 2024). "'What's bento?': How sushi won our hearts, minds and stomachs in Aotearoa". The Spinoff . Archived from the original on 15 September 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  6. ↑ Kiong, Errol (12 November 2008). "Chicken sushi conquered Kiwi tastebuds". The New Zealand Herald . Archived from the original on 12 December 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  7. ↑ Lee, Hannah (7 December 2016). "Hundreds queue around a busy New Plymouth street for a free sushi lunch". Stuff . Archived from the original on 13 January 2025. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  8. ↑ Steyl, Louisa (22 November 2019). "Shoppers queued up from early morning to be the first to shop at Kmart Invercargill". Southland Times . Stuff. Archived from the original on 29 October 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  9. ↑ Shaw, Aimee (7 February 2023). "St Pierre's Sushi expanding business, set to roll-out second drive-thru". Stuff . Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  10. ↑ Scott, Tim (7 November 2024). "Sushi fans flock to new store". Otago Daily Times . Archived from the original on 12 November 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  11. ↑ Laing, Doug (9 May 2024). "Drive-thru sushi at old Stortford Lodge petrol station site as Hastings fast food alley grows". Hawke's Bay Today . Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2025.

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