Wolfgang Puck coming to Ackerman Union

Construction began last month on a new Wolfgang Puck casual dining restaurant in Ackerman Union that will offer beer and wine.

Preliminary construction to add enhancements, such as new restrooms, to Ackerman Union began in mid-November, said Cindy Bolton, food service director for Associated Students UCLA. ASUCLA will continue to work on the space until around April, when Wolfgang Puck will bring in its contractors to begin final construction on the restaurant.

The new restaurant will offer students and faculty a place to purchase wine and beer. Bolton said the Wolfgang Puck restaurant will primarily be a casual dining facility, which is why Chancellor Gene Block approved the proposal to sell alcohol as a supplement to the dining experience.

Both Wolfgang Puck and ASUCLA want a comfortable place to enjoy food and drinks on campus, Bolton said.

“We want to create a home-away-from-home that serves great food, is reasonably priced, and makes students and faculty feel welcome anytime of the day, any day of the week,” said Joe Essa, president of Wolfgang Puck Worldwide.

Students and faculty have been pushing for a place to drink alcohol on campus since the late 1970s, Bolton said.

The UCLA Faculty Center, which obtained its liquor license in 1968, is the only other on campus location where alcohol is sold, according to Daily Bruin archives.

ASUCLA aims to create a positive space to foster an example of mature alcohol consumption on campus, Bolton said.

“Wolfgang Puck was a good choice in terms of its reputation, food and brand,” Bolton said.

The university was comfortable with the company’s restaurant atmosphere, she added.

“We didn’t want to create a pub atmosphere that might promote irresponsible drinking,” Bolton said.

“We wanted (a place) to model responsible drinking, and we wanted to have a restaurant that differed from our other fast-service restaurants.”

Wolfgang Puck has similar restaurants on other university campuses, including USC and the University of Chicago, Essa said. The company is excited to be working with UCLA to expand their business, he added.

“We’re always looking for new ways to serve food fresher, healthier, and still at a value,” Essa said. “We like the challenge.”

Student and faculty feedback has been positive toward the project, Bolton said.

Sandy Moreno, a fourth-year Latin American studies student, said she thinks the restaurant will be a good addition to the campus to serve students who aren’t able to visit similar off-campus venues often.

“Other universities have pubs or something like that on their campuses, so I think it’s a good idea,” Moreno said.

She added that she could see herself visiting a restaurant like the one that is being built.

Although it is too early in development to have an official liquor license, the company is working closely with university management to secure a liquor license and fully intends to serve beer and wine upon opening, Essa said.

This is not the first time the university has proposed a restaurant in partnership with Wolfgang Puck.

In 2007, plans were made to open a similar restaurant that would serve alcohol in response to a student vote that indicated overwhelming student approval for such a place on campus, Bolton said. The plan fell through because of the worsening recession, which forced cutbacks for both ASUCLA and Wolfgang Puck.

Last spring, ASUCLA approached Wolfgang Puck Worldwide again. Now that the company is financially able to expand its business, the project has officially begun.

The project is slated to be completed fall quarter, and ASUCLA plans to open the restaurant shortly after.

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