Lomarritos shuts down before semester’s end

Lomarritos, after enjoying much popularity since its Nov. 14 opening, has made its last burrito.

“Due to issues with facilities, we are going to be closed for a time unknown to us right now,” stated their website Saturday. “We are currently looking into other opportunities so that we can continue to provide Lomarritos to you. Thank you to everyone who has bought or supported Lomarritos so far. Without all of you none of this would be possible!”

Seniors Josh Lam and Josh Burgner started the company from Wiley Hall as part of their entrepreneurship class. After being approached by their resident director, Chip Pitkin, the pair shut down the business.

“Lomarritos was shut down primarily due to issues with legality and the school not wanting a non-registered business producing and selling food on campus,” said Lam. “Originally thinking it was probably because of Sodexo contracts we were actually surprised to find out that Sodexo had nothing to do with it.”

Lam said that Sodexo was open to other vendors on campus and that the main issue was that they were testing out their school project and unable to file legal paperwork to become a business before Lomarritos was shut down.

Jeff Bolster, dean of students at PLNU, said after the article ran last week, ResLife checked in with Finance and Administrative Services about what the students would need to stay on campus, including a food handler’s license certificate from the City of San Diego.

“This has nothing to do with Sodexo shutting it down. It’s an internal food handling liability issue,” Bolster said.

In the future, Lomarritos may move their business off campus, but consequently must deal with the issues of location, convenience and maintenance of low prices. Lam emphasized that administration was very understanding and gave them the opportunity to finish out the semester if needed for a grade.

One other aspect that resulted in their shutdown was the popularity of their venture.

“One large reason for us closing was actually due to the growth in popularity,” said Lam. “Although the previous article [in the Point] got us plenty of interested people and many asking when we opened next, it also informed administration of what we were doing and due to legal reasons they needed to respond accordingly…with the craziness of the semester ending and us not wanting to push our limits, we decided to respectfully halt business for the time being.”