Wagamama creates 52 new jobs as chain opens new Leeds site

The restaurant chain said the opening of the new site, which took on Monday, will create just over 50 new jobs.

The new restaurant, which will be open seven days a week, has been designed for 120 internal covers and 30 external covers.

Milly Pearson, regional marketing manager at Wagamama said: “We are so excited to open the doors to our brand-new restaurant in Leeds.

“Our benches are now ready to welcome the local community and visitors of The Springs retail and leisure park, and we can’t wait to serve up some of our newest dishes and fresh favourites.

“Our fantastic new team has been working hard to ensure we’ll bring our much-loved Wagamama experience to our guests.”

Wagamama joins other brands including Nandos and Odeon at The Springs retail and leisure park.

Travel and leisure giant TUI also opened a new store at the site in May of this year.

Amongst Wagamama’s other new openings this year was a site at the Dome Leisure Centre in Doncaster.

Opening in April, the new restaurant created 55 new jobs.

Wagamama said at the start of this year that its planned new openings would create around 500 jobs across the country.

Speaking at the time, chief executive Thomas Heier said 2023 had been an “exciting year” with the launch of new dishes on a Korean-inspired menu including vegan corn dogs, or K-dogs, and hot pots and rice bowls.

The chain also made half of its menu meat-free.

Mr Heier added: “Our teams have done an excellent job in continuing to elevate our guest experience and we very much look forward to welcoming more guests to our benches as we head into 2024.”

The company opened six new sites over 2023.

Wagamama first launched in London 32 years ago.

The firm’s owner, The Restaurant Group, was taken private last year in a £701m takeover by US private equity firm Apollo.