Giving Sunderland a taste of something new: Introducing Sumo Bento
Hailing from London, Japanese and Korean street food vendor Sumo Bento has brought its brand of Asian fusion food to Sunderland with the help of Enterprising Sunderland.
Sumo Bento brings a fresh take on Asian food to Sunderland, serving fresh Korean and Japanese inspired bento boxes and delicious Asian fusion sides. Founded by South Korean natives Sithu Swe and May Phyu Zaw, the pair have been trading since July 2024 bringing their fresh offering at events and locations across Sunderland, including at Nissan.
“We fell in love with the city. It’s a place full of promise and exciting developments. The sense of community is there in every person we’ve met and we wanted to be part of that.” Sithu Swe, Sumo Bento North East
What help did Sumo Bento need?
Having set their sights on Sunderland as a place to start up their food hospitality business, Sumo Bento wanted to better understand the local area and opportunities across the city. Their first point of contact was with Back on the Map, a Hendon based charity working to make Hendon a place to live, work and thrive.
Craig Richardson at Back on the Map, said: “Hendon’s community is vibrant with a high-street that functions as the beating heart of the local area, so we weren’t surprised that Sumo Bento were drawn to the place and wanted to learn more. After speaking with Sithu and May it became clear that they would really benefit from some further business development support and a broader introduction to what Sunderland has to offer, so we introduced them to our colleagues at the North East BIC who have been able to help them get their business concept off the ground.”
How did the BIC work with Sumo Bento?
“Sithu and May were fairly new to the city when we first met them in May 2024, so we started by helping them to better understand what the local food market looked like”, says business adviser, Helen Wardropper. “With such a unique offering, it felt really important that they properly understood how their offer could really take off in the city as something less widely available – a completely fresh concept.”
As a food business start-up without a permanent venue, there were a lot of technical and legal issues to consider in the initial stages, and the BIC worked with Sithu and May to navigate the process and paperwork. But there were a range of other questions to consider, including how Sumo Bento should structure their business.
Speaking about the experience, Sithu said: “Helen has been with us through every step of the journey, from understanding how we register as a food business with the local authority, to developing our business plan and helping us plan our cash flow. There isn’t a step we’ve taken where she hasn’t been with us on the journey and I’m confident we wouldn’t have been trading as quickly if she hadn’t guided us through the whole process.
“We really wanted to lay down our roots with a premise straight away, but we’re still looking for the right fit for us. Helen really helped us to consider our options, pivot our model and explore a mobile offer so we could start trading.
“This has really transformed things for us. We’ve been able to get our name out in the city. The support we’ve had has been invaluable and really strengthened our business proposition in just a few short months. We’ve built some incredible connections and have taken our bento boxes to some of the city’s top events, venues and workplaces. We’re really excited about the future and building our business in Sunderland.”
“If you’ve been thinking about starting a business, you’ve got nothing to lose by speaking to the BIC. They helped us see our path forwards more clearly and have been with us at every hurdle and every success.” May Phyu Zaw, Sumo Bento North East
What’s next for Sumo Bento?
“We’d love to set up in our own premises” says Sithu “The exposure we’ve had from our mobile food offering, in such a short space of time, has been tremendous. We’re really excited to have been able to establish partnerships with Caper, Events to Go Go, Nissan and Witton Castle, but we really want to make Sumo Bento a part of the local community with a base in the city.”
Word of mouth and the support of the BIC in building valuable trading partnerships has helped Sumo Bento kick-start their business success, but they are now poised to develop a greater digital presence to support their marketing. Working with Helen and the BIC team, they’re now looking at how best to approach this, and continue the hunt for a permanent home so they can continue to build on their initial start-up success.
About Enterprising Sunderland
Sumo Bento’s support from the BIC forms part of the Enterprising Sunderland project which has received £1,271,885 from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund Programme, managed in Sunderland by Sunderland City Council on behalf of the Sunderland Partnership.
Enterprising Sunderland provides fully funded one-to-one advice, workshops, and an online learning programme. The programme is delivered by a unique consortium of delivery partners in Sunderland working together to stimulate entrepreneurial ambition across the city.
The partnership is made up of the North East BIC, Back on the Map, Sunderland BME Network, Sunderland Bangladeshi Centre, King’s Trust, Smarta and University of Sunderland.
If you’re considering working for yourself and want to understand how Enterprising Sunderland can help you, take your first step and speak to one of our advisers, today on 0191 516 6111.