Restaurant opening further delayed

alt="For UCLA students, employees and Alumni Association
members.">

Tuesday, January 19, 1999

Restaurant opening further delayed

ASUCLA: After months of setbacks, La Cucina could be open by end
of week

By Neal Narahara

Daily Bruin Contributor

Delays have become typical of the opening of La Cucina by
Sbarro, the Italian food vendor contracted by the Associated
Students of UCLA to open a restaurant in Ackerman Union’s Terrace
Food Court.

ASUCLA and Sbarro officials attributed the most recent delays to
problems ordering and shipping special equipment for the new
restaurant and getting the space up to university construction
standards.

According to students’ association and Sbarro officials, the
site, which was stacked head-high with construction materials and
unopened boxes as recently as Monday morning, should be replaced
with a fully operational restaurant by the end of this week.

"There are some unavoidable things that pop up in these
projects," said Terence Hsiao, ASUCLA business development
director.

La Cucina was originally scheduled to open in the fall –
concurrently with neighboring Rubio’s Baja Grill – but problems
bringing the site up to university construction standards caused it
to be delayed until the last week of winter break. The more recent
ordering and shipping problems have pushed back the opening date
even further.

Terry Guy, superintendent for Ancor, Inc., the contractor for La
Cucina, said that some necessary pieces of equipment were missing
parts when they arrived and some custom fixtures arrived broken.
The problems caused construction to halt as replacements were
reordered and delivered.

As a result, La Cucina was unable to open before the end of
winter break, as had been planned.

"The problems were amplified because of the Christmas holidays,"
Guy said.

According to Guy, there are more distractions, and therefore
more mix ups and problems, during the holiday season. Most of the
missing and replacement pieces required to complete construction
have since arrived.

Problems meeting university building codes also delayed the fall
opening until the beginning of winter quarter. Building plans were
submitted multiple times for approval before they met the required
specifications.

La Cucina’s plans were finally approved in late November, after
which construction started.

La Cucina has occupied their space in the Terrace Food Court
rent-free since July 28, 1998, when the lease was executed.

According to Hsiao, the restaurant’s contract with ASUCLA is
based on a percentage of sales. Because La Cucina has not yet
opened, there have been no sales.

According to Richard Delia, chief financial officer for the
students’ association, most lease contracts allow a 90 day
rent-free period for tenants to get their operations in order,
after which the tenant pays rent regardless of whether or not it is
open for business. ASUCLA did not put such a clause in its contract
with La Cucina.

"We thought they would be finished (based on Sbarro’s
performance on other university campuses)," Delia said.

La Cucina is a relatively new venture by Sbarro. The restaurant
in Ackerman will only be La Cucina’s third location in
California.

"La Cucina is a completely different animal (than Sbarro)," said
Shahin Allameh, area supervisor for La Cucina and Sbarro.

The restaurant was projected to contribute $13,000 a month in
rent revenue to the students’ association budget during the
academic year.

Despite the fact that budget shortcomings created by the delay
have largely been made up for by better than projected sales in the
Cooperage, food services as a whole is contributing less than
expected to the students’ association budget so far this year.

According to ASUCLA officials, rent revenue was not the single
motivating factor in bringing La Cucina on campus, and the
partnership is still financially worthwhile.

"It would have cost ASUCLA millions of dollars to change the old
space," Hsiao said.

Under the agreement with La Cucina and Rubio’s, the tenants were
responsible for giving Ackerman’s first floor a facelift.

La Cucina will join Panda Express and Rubio’s as the only
on-campus food vendors contracted out by the students’ association.
UCLA’s Taco Bell and Wetzel’s Pretzels locations are both owned and
operated by the association.

According to Jim Friedman, a graduate representative on the
ASUCLA Board of Directors, the immediate impact of the opening may
be to help alleviate the long lunch lines in the Terrace Food
Court.

"The impact of (another week’s) delay is minor," Friedman said.
"It will be nice for the students when it opens, but it’s hard to
miss something you’ve never had."

CHARLES KUO/Daily Bruin

La Cucina, a subsidiary of Sbarro’s, was scheduled to open a
restaurant on the first floor of Ackerman in fall of 1998.