‘I just wish there was no COVID-19.’ This new Merced restaurant opened during the pandemic
Jin Hahm loves building relationships with her customers. The familiar faces become more like friends and family for the longtime restaurant owner.
That’s been a challenge since Hahm, 50, and her husband Young Hahm, 51, recently opened up a new restaurant — Hana Sushi & Grill — located on the corner of West Alexander and G Street in Merced, which was previously occupied by Pocket 8’s Sushi & Grill
With dine-in options currently prohibited in the state due to the coronavirus pandemic, Hahm has only been able to meet customers through masks.
Jin says she recognizes the same names that come in as phone orders or online orders. She’ll see names like Isabel or Jessica. “I want to meet Isabel,” Jin said. “I want to meet Jessica.”
Instead she’s meeting DoorDash delivery drivers.
The Hahms are not newbies when it comes to owning restaurants. Jin and Young have owned five different restaurants in Fresno since 2002. Young began his career as a sushi chef in Los Angeles in 1988.
However, they never opened or operated a restaurant during a pandemic.
COVID-19 played a role in delaying the opening of the restaurant from May until June. Since opening, they’ve only been allowed to have dine-in customers for about two weeks before Gov. Gavin Newsom announced restaurants on the state’s monitoring list had to shut down inside dining earlier this month.
“Usually with dine-in customers you have interaction with the customers,” Jin said. “You get to know the customers, you get feedback, you make friends. That’s what I missed so far. It brings joy to my husband when he sees people enjoying his food.”
The Hahms were concerned whether their restaurant could survive solely on takeout orders when they opened. They couldn’t afford to push back their opening date any further.
“We had to make money,” Jin said. “We have rent and other bills.”
They knew it would be a challenge. While established restaurants are struggling to adapt and change their business models during the pandemic, the Hahms had the tough task of establishing a new restaurant with customers in a new city.
Jin says they faced other challenges while opening up the restaurant, like hiring staff. When they’ve opened restaurants in the past they’ve been flooded with applicants. When they opened recently in Merced, she said they didn’t have many people apply for jobs.
Jin says she’s not sure if it was because people not wanting to work during the pandemic, or if the unemployment benefits were discouraging people from working.
The restaurant currently employs seven people and will likely hire three or four more employees when they are allowed to serve dine-in customers again.
Jin says all of their previous restaurants were successful in Fresno and so far, they’re happy with the move to Merced.
The Hahms were intrigued when one of their customers let them know about the location that was available in Merced. The customer happened to be the landlord of the property located at 9 West Alexander Ave.
With the growth of UC Merced and a less competitive restaurant market than Fresno, they decided to open up a new restaurant.
The Hahm’s feel their restaurant brings a different quality of restaurant, giving Merced a different option for Japanese and Korean food. Hahm describes Hana Sushi & Grill as a fusion between Japanese and Korean food.
“What matters most to us is bringing quality food to our neighbors,” Jin said. “When we opened our restaurant in Fresno that’s what we tried to do. When we first opened our restaurant in 2002, there weren’t many Japanese restaurants in Fresno. Now there are so many. That’s one of the reasons why we wanted to come to Merced.”
Judging by sales, Jin says the restaurant has been doing OK during their first month. As a new restaurant, they don’t have past numbers to judge their sales in Merced. She says she’s noticed they are getting repeat customers.
“Our customers have been supportive,” Jin said. “We like it here in Merced. We know the situation we are in. We know how serious COVID is, we wish there was no COVID. We would be happy. We have to deal with whatever Gov. Newsom thinks is best and we support that.”
