Walmart To Add Restaurants That Serve Raw Fish

[Alpha8472]

Walmart will be opening up Uncle Sharkii restaurants in 10 California stores with plans to expand "nationwide."

I saw signs at a local San Francisco Bay Area Walmart hiring for the restaurant.

Uncle Sharkii serves poke bowls, Boba teas, and Dole Soft-serve. Poke bowls feature diced raw fish served as an appetizer or a main course.

The local Walmart lost its McDonald's years ago, and Walmart had been trying to get a restaurant to fill its place. Walmart has restrictions. There can be no grill, no fryers, no grease down the drains, etc. This is because McDonald's has caused thousands of dollars in plumbing problems for Walmart as grease has clogged their pipes. Also a McDonald's fire at a Walmart in the San Francisco Bay Area nearly burned the entire store down. That store was later set on fire several times due to arson before it was finally gutted by fire during a looting. It took 4 months to reopen.

Perhaps if this is successful, the McDonald's restaurants in the entire Walmart chain will be purged. The McDonald's restaurants cause plumbing problems that cost more than the rent that McDonald's pays.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... -bars-2024

[storewanderer]

In Sparks, NV there is a Surfin Chicken in the former McDonalds Wal Mart space, which opened sometime in 2023. The McDonalds closed in maybe 2021.

Back around October, Surfin Chicken closed and all equipment was removed from the space. I went back to that store sometime in December and Surfin Chicken was open again, the equipment returned (or maybe new equipment), and it was reopened under some new operator. The reviews for the old operator weren't great. I never tried this. I am disappointed to see concepts that appear to have zero recognition and had literally no traffic during round one like this reopen yet Steak N Shake which did have a decent flow of customers can't get reopened here.

They still have fryers etc. The grills appear to be there too but may not be used.

Surfin Chicken was also "coming soon" to a closed Wendys in the Reno Wal Mart at Kietzke Lane however it never opened there and that space is for lease again. Wal Mart used that space for COVID Vaccines for quite a while but isn't using it for that anymore.

[norcalriteaidclerk]

The long-closed Sacramento country club location(was undergoing conversion into a likely-mothballed Amazon fresh when I last checked)had a Subway instead of a McDonald's.

[storewanderer]

The long-closed Sacramento country club location(was undergoing conversion into a likely-mothballed Amazon fresh when I last checked)had a Subway instead of a McDonald's.

I think in my area the last Wal Marts to have Subway inside are Reno-Lemmon Valley, Fernley, and Susanville. Drawing a blank if Gardnerville has it, always enter/exit through the other doors there. None of the semi-recent McDonalds closures have been taken by Subway.

I can see how it is difficult for these food places to make it inside Wal Mart given the low cost hot food program that Wal Mart runs in its deli. McDonalds was a good match. Wendys may also be a good match but ultimately the decision to close that in Reno was made and toward the end it hardly did any sales/needed remodeling/didn't do enough sales to justify a remodel (it worked for 25 years... or I should say it was open that long).

[Super S]

A restaurant that serves raw fish just doesn't seem like a good fit for Walmart. McDonald's at least appeals to a broader range of customers, plus they have an established breakfast program, so they can operate longer during the day. Subway is limited by a weak breakfast offering (not sure they even do breakfast any more) but still is a bit more mainstream. These restaurants need to appeal to the people who shop at Walmart regularly, as well as to employees as these often serve as an employee cafeteria as well.

Then again, the Walmart closest to me removed its restaurant entirely during its Supercenter conversion several years back and is surviving just fine, there is a standalone Subway and McDonald's right out front though.

If Walmart is so concerned about clogged pipes etc., maybe they should bring back the Radio Grill and keep everything in-house.

[veteran+]

Side note:

Raw fish "operation" in a Walmart.............................what could go wrong?

[storewanderer]

Side note:

Raw fish "operation" in a Walmart.............................what could go wrong?

I think there are some Wal Marts that have a sublease with a Sushi vendor (same 3rd party who runs them in chain grocers- those sushi chefs go from store to store, may be in a Kroger for a few hours then at a Wal Mart the next few hours) and gives them space in the service deli.

[BillyGr]

Side note:

Raw fish "operation" in a Walmart.............................what could go wrong?

Probably nothing more than any other such outside operation setting up in a Walmart, since it isn't Walmart setting up how it runs but another company that has their own name to protect and grow.

[veteran+]

Perhaps...................but I don't trust the "environment" or the standards surrounding the food dispensing operation.

[Brian Lutz]

From their website, it looks like Uncle Sharkii operates primarily in mall food courts, and most existing locations are in California (with a couple mall locations each in the Houston, Salt Lake and Honolulu areas.) I know of one existing Uncle Sharkii location in the food court at The Shops at South Town (formerly Southtowne Mall) in Sandy UT.

The website also shows that three of these Walmart locations are already open (Vacaville, Roseville and Galt) and also shows the other seven Walmart locations in California as coming soon. If you look at the store locator on their website it actually shows four "Coming soon" Walmart locations in the Salt Lake area as well (Taylorsville, Salt Lake City, West Jordan and Riverton.)

I don't know how well Poke Bowls would fly outside the west coast (just like sushi poke is very much an acquired taste) but they do also sell boba teas and Dole Whip soft serve, both of which seem like they might do well in a Walmart store.