A lapsed restaurant will not be able to transfer its restaurant or eating place license to another Kodiak establishment after all. That’s the ruling from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board last month after it sided with the City of Kodiak and Kodiak Island Borough, who protested the renewal of the Second Floor restaurant’s license.
Last month on April 8 the Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board held a special meeting to weigh in on whether Second Floor restaurant, which is located downtown, could renew its license that allows it to serve beer and wine. And subsequently if it could then transfer that license to Nuniaq, along with the continued operation of Peking Restaurant’s and its restaurant or eating place license.
Dana Walukiewicz, the board’s chair, said April’s special meeting was meant to focus on more complicated issues such as these.
“The idea here is that we can delve into these topics with more time to go into detail and not take up a lot of the time of the general public who may not have necessarily an interest in a particular license or a licensee issue," he explained.
And the debacle over two out of the four local restaurant or eating place licenses in Kodiak has been complex.
The Kodiak Island Borough and the City of Kodiak argued that the state should not have renewed the restaurant or eating place license, REPL; mainly because Second Floor hasn’t been in operation for several years. The restaurant was renting a building in downtown Kodiak at 116 W. Rezanof Drive, above Peking and Sizzler Burger restaurant which is owned by the same family as Second Floor.
As such, both municipal governments told the state that this inactive license is negatively affecting local economic development.
“It’s protesting the lack of economic activity and one of the adverse impacts of that lack of economic activity is a reduction in sales tax revenue to the City of Kodiak, which impacts the entire community," Scott Brandt Erichsen, the attorney for the borough, said.
But the restaurant owner already had plans in motion to transfer its restaurant or eating place license to another existing restaurant in town, Nuniaq.
Stephani Kim-Kurosawa is the daughter of the owner of Second Floor restaurant, Sook C. Yun who is also known as Sung Kim or Mrs. Kim. She is listed as the licensee on the restaurant’s license renewal application documents that were sent to the state on Feb 27 of 2024. Yun is also the owner of Peking and Sizzler Burger Restaurant, which holds another one of Kodiak’s four total REPLs, and was another target of the borough and city’s protests earlier this year.
Kim-Kurosawa told the state board that Second Floor is transferring its license as a way to stimulate the local economy by giving it to Nuniaq to use for its own business.
“The license that we gave to Nuniaq, we gave it to them because it’s economic growth. I know they’re going to do wonderful," Kim-Kurosawa said. "She’s [Melissa Berns] a chef herself and [Nuniaq's] a bonafide restaurant.”
Despite that argument, the four-member board unanimously voted to uphold the borough and city’s protest, which stated that Second Floor’s license was not eligible to be renewed in the first place and should not be transferred to Nuniaq. Instead it will be forfeit.
At the same special meeting on April 8, the ABC Board also denied Kodiak Island Borough’s protest of Peking Restaurant’s continued operations for the rest of this year. That means Peking will keep its active, but temporarily surrendered license [REPL 2611] from the state until at least the next calendar year.
If no appeals are filed with the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings, then other Kodiak eateries can apply for Second Floor’s restaurant or eating place license. The State of Alaska's Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office handles the application process but it is unknown how long it will take before the agency will start accepting applications for the license.
