Tsunami relocates in Ackerman Union under name Kikka Sushi
Kikka Sushi, a food vendor in Los Angeles, is taking over for Tsunami in a new restaurant. (Miriam Bribiesca/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Melody Teng
Aug. 10, 2015 1:04 p.m.
Tsunami, a quick service restaurant in Ackerman Union, was relocated and renamed Monday after nearly a year of delays.
Associated Students UCLA officials initially predicted the relocated restaurant would open last fall. While Tsunami was a joint partnership between ASUCLA and Kikka Sushi, an Asian food vendor in Los Angeles, Kikka Sushi will solely manage the new restaurant, said Cindy Bolton, ASUCLA director of food operations.
Kikka Sushi will be in charge of hiring employees and managing the restaurant independently. Wages will not be based on ASUCLA structure.
The menu, however, will remain the same, along with a few extra items like salads and udon, since Kikka Sushi was the original supplier of Tsunami. Kikka Sushi has supplied Tsunami’s food products for more than 10 years, Bolton said.
Since the food supplier and ASUCLA already had a longstanding business relationship, ASUCLA decided to ask Kikka Sushi if it would be interested in opening a physical space to sell its products, she said.
ASUCLA created a blank space for Kikka Sushi on the A-Level of Ackerman Union and brought in all utilities and plumbing, since it was not originally designed as a food service area, Bolton said. It was previously a gaming and arcade room for students.
Inaccurate architectural drawings, among other issues, caused several months of delay, Bolton said. After a new set of drawings were complete, they had to be reapproved by the association.
In addition, building inspectors visited the restaurant last month and found that it did not pass the fire safety standards, said Bob Williams, executive director of ASUCLA.
Roy Handjojo, sales manager of Kikka Sushi, said the installation of a kitchen ventilator led to the failure to meet the fire regulations because the ventilator was unsafe.
Because the design plans used for the architecture were created a long time ago, it did not reflect what the space currently looked like, Bolton said.
For instance, some electrical changes had been made since the previous plans and construction workers came across things they did not expect, such as issues with plumbing, wiring and ventilation, she said.
Williams said it is not uncommon for there to be delays in construction of restaurants in Ackerman Union. A similar delay occurred with the construction of the Sbarro location in Ackerman Union.
Bolton said Kikka paid the costs of the delays, and there were no extra costs to ASUCLA. However, ASUCLA did pay for the initial restructuring of the space before Kikka Sushi leased it. ASUCLA paid about $60,000 for the construction, a figure considerably less than if ASUCLA took on the entire project, she said.
Tsunami will close with the opening of Kikka Sushi. Though the details are not decided, the space previously used by Tsunami may be incorporated into the Global Viewpoint Lounge in Ackerman Union.
ASUCLA previously owned all restaurants on campus, but after bringing on Panda Express, it has increasingly allowed other business to rent spaces in Ackerman Union. Other restaurants that ASUCLA does not manage include Wolfgang Puck, Rubios and Carls Jr.
