Photo taken by Sabrina Liang
One day, when I had finally finished my classes, I dropped by Wasabi and bought a tray of sushi: late night snacks with low calories. The cashier lady smiled at me like she always does, and I suddenly realized that I never knew her name. What is her name? More questions came into my head, and that’s when I decided to learn about Vanderbilt’s sushi kitchen: Wasabi.
Wasabi is a family business. The sweet and warm couple we see in the store, Vum and Khen, bought the place and have run it diligently since then. They kindly introduced me to their son, John, currently a freshman at MTSU, from whom I learned a lot about the store. It has always been a dream for John’s father, Vum, to own a restaurant, and they are passionate about providing diverse food types for students.
According to John, as a franchisee of Fujisan, workers at Wasabi are trained to make boba and sushi. Conducting business at the location provided by Vanderbilt costs them a portion of sales (John did not specify the exact number). To make the sushi, John told me that they buy most of the ingredients fresh everyday by themselves, and for “meat and things such as rice that need to be preserved, we buy it from [Fujisan]” to ensure the consistent quality.
According to John, at this time of the year, Wasabi prepares about 350 sushi trays per day and around an additional 50 trays for munchie marts around campus. The combo of one sushi and one boba is particularly popular among students. In fact, during the third week of October, Wasabi sold around 1700 boba-plus-sushi combos. Preparing this massive amount of product requires the couple to wake up around 3 am and prepare the food until the store opens at 11 am.
“[It’s] about 16 hours of work daily, weekends about 12,” John told me, “but it’s something that my parents are passionate about.”
When being asked about the challenges they have faced, John pointed out that demand can shift a lot with the seasons. As the weather gets colder, students tend to choose warm foods over cold options like sushi. The challenging part for smaller businesses like Wasabi is that they don’t always have access to the right tools to look back at their data to accurately predict these changes. Thus, it is difficult to know how much to stock, which is a common struggle for smaller places trying to keep up with the change in demand. However, we believe that it’s also an opportunity for entrepreneurial students to explore.
Out of curiosity, Yiling and I sat at the desk close to the entrance of Wasabi on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon from 12:23 pm to 12:53 pm observing the customers while enjoying our trays of sushi. During the half hour we counted 50 trays of sushi, 46 cups of Boba, and 2 poke bowls being sold.The wait time remained relatively short. At 12:39 pm, there were five people in line, and it took each of them around a minute to reach the front. Getting in that line is a great thing to do if you’re in a rush with an empty stomach,and it’s more than that: It’s a way to support a family’s hard work. It’s a small, meaningful step in keeping a local business that adds warmth and character to Vanderbilt’s community.
