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Renovated Treehouse will welcome Rubio’s, La Cucina

By Daily Bruin Staff

Feb. 18, 1998 9:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 19, 1998

Renovated Treehouse will welcome Rubio’s, La Cucina

ASUCLA: Goal of current privatization is to best serve UCLA
community

By Michael Weiner

Daily Bruin Contributor

ASUCLA has negotiated contracts with Rubio’s Baja Grill and La
Cucina to renovate Treehouse and open restaurants there next
fall.

Rubio’s Baja Grill, a Mexican restaurant, specializes in fish
tacos, but also offers a variety of other Mexican foods. La Cucina
is a fresh pasta restaurant operated by the Italian-food chain
Sbarro.

Rubio’s and La Cucina will replace The Market Place, Mainstreet,
C&C Company and Pasta Resistance – the restaurants which
currently reside in Treehouse. They will close at the end of the
year.

ASUCLA board member Jim Friedman said that Rubio’s will become a
cohesive part of the campus community.

"One of the most appealing things was their desire to work with
us on the campus," said Friedman, the association’s food services
strategy committee chair.

Currently, Treehouse sandwich lines are only open during lunch.
Employees will still have jobs in food services when Rubio’s and La
Cucina move in. The two restaurants also plan to hire students.

"They are committed to hiring students and doing things that
reflect the market they’re in," Friedman said.

Friedman said that Sbarro will design La Cucina’s menu in
accordance with students’ needs and wants, although both new menus
will be more expensive.

"They were willing to define a menu based on what they do and
what we want," Friedman said.

The two restaurants will pay for the renovation of Treehouse
over the summer and be ready for opening in the fall.

"The Treehouse was built in 1961, and it definitely showed its
age," said Terence Hsiao, ASUCLA business development director. "We
weren’t in a financial position to renovate it."

"(The contracts with the restaurants) allow us to do more things
because it frees us of the obligation to renovate Treehouse," he
continued.

ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman said that the
strongest impetus for bringing in the new restaurants was the need
to renovate Treehouse.

"That’s the real reason we sought outsiders," Eastman said.

Last spring, ASUCLA surveyed the campus, asking students what
changes they would like to see in food services.

"We tried to think of what people wanted based on the food
service survey," Friedman said. "What they wanted was fresh,
healthy food."

In addition, students desired Mexican food, pasta and rotisserie
chicken. Friedman said that ASUCLA is currently looking into
opening a chicken restaurant in the Cooperage, possibly in the
space currently occupied by De Nuevo, since there will not be a
need for two Mexican restaurants in the same building.

Hsiao said that the privatization of Treehouse will not start a
trend for ASUCLA food services. He believes it is important to
maintain a mix of students’ association restaurants and private
restaurants.

"The basic strategy we’re pursuing is that the campus is best
served by having ASUCLA’s own restaurants and a few selected
outside operators," Hsiao said.

Hsiao also said that the contracts with Rubio’s and La Cucina
are similar to the current contract with Panda Express, which was
brought in when ASUCLA felt it could not fulfill students’
needs.

"We had developed an Asian food line that was not well received,
so we brought in Panda Express," Hsiao said.

But Hsiao emphasized that privatizing all of food services would
not be in the best interests of the ASUCLA because it would lose
the flexibility to change.

"Once you get yourself into an agreement with someone, you lock
yourself in for a fairly extended period of time," Hsiao said.

He also said that complete privatization would not contribute to
the atmosphere that ASUCLA wants to maintain.

"If everything is a McDonald’s, or Carl’s Jr., or a Kentucky
Fried Chicken, there’s a real loss there in terms of UCLA’s sense
of place," Hsiao said.

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