New Japanese restaurant opens in downtown State College

Sushi and hibachi lovers salivate — there is a new downtown State College restaurant.

Tokyo Sushi & Hibachi recently opened at 428 E. College Ave. in a 2,000-square-foot space under McLanahan’s.

The eatery had its grand opening Monday. Tokyo Sushi & Hibachi owner Wilson Zhao said a free appetizer will be offered to every table at dinner time during February.

“I was thinking about potential in State College for this kind of restaurant,” he said. “There is potential, because a lot of students and young people are here. I think this will be one of their favorite places for Japanese food.”

The restaurant seats 49 people and is still hiring employees. There is not enough space to cook food at the table, but it’s possible Zhao will open a second restaurant to do that.

“I’m focused on this one, and once we get everything going smoothly we could open another,” Zhao said. “I want to focus on one right now.”

Reaccredited

Mount Nittany Medical Center earned reaccreditation for its cardiac catheterization lab through Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence.

Cardiac catheterization is the name for the group of procedures that involve physician-guided catheters entered through an artery in the leg or wrist and into the heart and the coronary arteries. They can be used in an emergency to intervene during a heart attack or to identify structural problems to prevent such events.

MNMC obtained ACE accreditation last year.

“ACE accreditation shows our sustained commitment to the highest quality cardiac care for our patients,” MNMC’s Albert Zoda said. “Our reaccreditation continues to cover both diagnostic and interventional catheterizations, so it certainly required a lot of hard work, time and dedication from our staff. For that, we are so very proud.”

Healthy data

The Geisinger Orthopedic Institute is partnering with Universal Research Solutions, also known as Outcomes Based Electronic Research Database, for patient outcomes data collection and multi-center studies. OBERD is headquartered in Columbia, Mo.

Researchers will use wearable activity devices to collect real-time health data from Geisinger orthopedic patients.

“That is accompanied by the vast amount of OBERD-collected information — demographics, procedures, implant data and the question of overall satisfaction — to provide a complete picture of the individual’s care at Geisinger,” OBERD CEO Ali Hussam said. “We may then be able to better understand the factors that influence health outcomes and provide more complete answers to the patient.”

Geisinger will use OBERD’s clinical suite and education software to collect data from orthopedic patients, which can be used to research approaches to care, decision-making and delivering outcomes.

Study on $15 minimum wage

The Employment Policies Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to studying public policy issues on employment growth, did a survey on the impact of a $15 minimum wage.

The national survey, conducted by Lloyd Cordor, found that franchise businesses are more likely to take offsetting steps to manage increased labor costs.

About half of non-franchise business owners said they would likely reduce staffing and hours, and 37 percent said they would be more likely to use automation. Another 15 percent of franchise business owners said they would reduce staffing and hours, and 54 percent said they would use more automation.

The impact of a $15 minimum wage would be felt most in the fast food and hotel industry.

About 80 percent of franchise quick service restaurant owners said would reduce hiring compared with 58 percent of non-franchise owners. About 90 percent of franchise hotel owners said they would raise room rates compared with 70 percent of non-franchise hotel owners.

Open house

SCORE Central PA will host an open house from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Feb. 20 at Kish Bank, located at 2610 Greentech Drive, in front of Home Depot.

SCORE is a national organization that provides free business mentoring.

This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 9:10 PM with the headline "New Japanese restaurant opens in downtown State College."