July 24, 2018 By Christian Murray
A Vernon Boulevard restaurant that aimed to offer something for sports fans and foodies alike closed on Thursday after being in business just five months.
S3 Sushi, which was located at 47-34 Vernon Blvd, was a sports bar and sushi eatery that served Asian cuisine. It also promoted soju—a clear, distilled alcohol from Korea.
Jae Junkunc, the owner and a Hunters Point resident, said she decided to close because the restaurant wasn’t meeting its financial goals. “I didn’t expect to make a profit in the first year…but I expected to be doing better at this point.”
She said that the bar/restaurant never took off.
“We would get people walk in on busy nights but it was not a big destination place,” she said.
Junkunc said that her concept was new and it needed much more time. However, “I was working 16 and 17 hours a day and I had to decide whether to stick with it or not—and I made a business decision.”
The restaurant closes at a time when the block is undergoing transition. The Standing Room, a couple of doors down, closed about one month ago and the space formerly occupied by Tutti Matti, which closed in August 2017, has yet to be tenanted.
Junkunc said that a study needs to be conducted looking at why there is so much business turnover in Hunters Point, yet the population keeps growing. She said wasn’t sure why the turnover was so high.
She said that she will soon look for a job in the financial sector, where she worked prior to her restaurant venture. “I’m tired. I’ll take a break first and then go back to it.”
Former Standing Room location
