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Bay Area sushi burrito chain Sushirrito is gone for good.
Established in 2011 in San Francisco and quickly popping up all along the Peninsula – including a 10-year-run on Palo Alto’s University Avenue – the fast-casual chain was known for its made-to-order Japanese Latin fusion mega rolls wrapped and eaten like burritos.
But after 15 years, Sushirrito co-founder Peter Yen recently announced the shuttering of his company.
“Building this brand has been one of the most demanding, all-consuming, and rewarding experiences of my life,” he wrote.
Yen created Sushirrito with co-founder and chef Ty Mahler, and the duo also launched short-lived Mochiko Mochi Pizza in 2023. Mahler, who previously worked at restaurants such as Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion and Emeril’s, has also owned and operated Colander Kitchens in San Mateo since last summer.
Mahler said the pandemic hit Sushirrito particularly hard and there were a lot of factors that contributed to its closure.
“(Sushirrito was) always a fast-casual place, and you need volume for that,” Mahler said. “And the volume just wasn’t there. And then on top of that, you throw in higher labor, higher food costs and everything else, harder supply chain. It was just a perfect storm that created an implosion for us.”
Post-pandemic, Sushirrito leaned heavily into licensing, expanding its footprint with rapidly growing micro food hall Local Kitchens.
“We really were banking on licensing. It all seemed like it was a good solution,” he said. “And it just turned out it wasn’t.”
Mahler explained that Sushirrito increased its supply chain to accommodate licensing, but when licensing didn’t work out (Local Kitchens shuttered more than half of its locations last year, according to Restaurant Business), Sushirrito was stuck with an increased supply chain.
Mahler has featured sushi burritos at Colander Kitchens since its debut, but he’s not sure how much longer he will. He noticed that Sushirrito staples such as Geisha’s Kiss and Salmon Samba weren’t popular with customers, so he scrapped the menu and has offered dragon rolls and rainbow rolls, sushi burrito style.
Now, he’s trying to adapt his offerings at Colander Kitchens to meet the needs of people in a post-pandemic world, noting he’s observed fewer large group outings and lower alcohol consumption.
“I think it’s exhausting when people still try to blame the pandemic, but I feel like we’re still living in 2021 here, and that’s just weird,” Mahler said. “I feel like Northern California has just not gotten over the hump of ‘it’s not the way it was before,’ where I feel like Texas, LA, New York, they’re better than they were in 2019.”
Mahler thinks those shifts have to do with Silicon Valley’s focus on technology. Instead of going out to meet up with people and eat, many opt to order takeout using third-party delivery apps, which take a significant cut of restaurants’ earnings, he said. Offices are not as full as they were pre-pandemic, meaning fewer people going out for lunch. He’s also concerned about the robotics push in the food industry, which he thinks is more destructive than helpful.
“Instead of going back to our roots about what food is and was … we’re still pushing tech,” Mahler said.
The next challenge he’s tackling is building out Colander Kitchens’ bar program. While initially he envisioned tiki drinks, he’s not sure the demand is there. Colander Kitchens currently offers five distinct menus, with cuisines ranging from French salads and Southern brunch to sushi burritos. He does not plan on reviving Mochiko Mochi Pizza.
And while Sushirrito is gone, sushi burritos still appear on local menus. IJ Sushi Burrito, a national chain founded in 2021, recently opened at Westfield Valley Fair, and Poke Works still sells sushi burritos.
“What an amazing thing to have done, to create and be a part of, where so many millions of people got to eat it,” Mahler said. “I think it’s very mind-blowing, and it doesn’t feel real at all that (Sushirrito is) not here.”
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