Nicole Lim
Empire Sushi Sdn Bhd
Ms. Nicole Lim is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Empire Sushi Sdn Bhd.
When she started the business in 2013, it instantly became the leading grab-and-go sushi chain store in Malaysia. Empire Sushi offers premium sushi at affordable prices with a localized taste. Empire also specializes in utilising local Malaysian spices and prides itself in providing uncompromised service, and efficient technology and online platforms.
To date, there are over 80 Empire Sushi outlets nationwide. Starting off with only two people running the business, Empire Sushi now employs 650 people with a revenue of RM58 million in 2021.
To ensure employee retention and build a cohesive team, the key ingredients in running a successful business, Nicole adopted some of the best talent practices in the market, inculcated a cohesive company culture and fostered career advancement opportunities. Through these initiatives, Nicole has achieved a 94% employee’s retention rate since 2018.
Nicole is focused on positioning Empire Sushi as a multicultural and socially responsible brand which is committed to continuous research and development. The company is also adopting creative business strategies, to lead change and create trends in the premium Japanese food landscape and the food and beverage (F&B) industry, as a whole.
Empire Sushi focuses on four principal corporate responsibility themes in its business, namely, healthy living and healthy eating, initiatives for needy communities, responsiveness to emergencies, and environmental sustainability.
Leveraging a franchise model, Empire Sushi’s ambition is to be the leader of the grab-and-go sushi industry in Southeast Asia by 2024.
