Cerritos City Council Approves Construction of Stacked Restaurant

The Cerritos City Council met on the evening of June 9, a regularly scheduled meeting after the June 7 special meeting, and approved a development proposal by Macerich Cerritos to construct a new restaurant building for Stacked Restaurant.

An intrigued council listened as Sandy Cisneros, the city’s senior planner, revealed the specifics of the construction of Stacked Restaurant, which, according to Cisneros, will add a new destination eatery and continue the exciting improvements and upgrades taking place at the . Located at 18425 Gridley Road, the establishment will occupy the space were Todai Restaurant was once located. In the middle of Cisneros’ presentation, Mayor Carol Chen excused herself from the item as she owns property 500 feet from the proposed construction site.

According to Cisneros, customers will be able to order and pay for their meals from provided iPads, thus eliminating a human server.

“It’s pretty neat and pretty high tech,” Cisneros said. “I think this is really going to be really cool for the residents.”

Council member Mark Pulido cleverly remarked that the restaurant sounds like it came from an episode of The Jetsons.

Jerry Hennessy, co-founder of Stacked, as well as BJ’s restaurants, spoke before the council on Council member Bruce Barrow’s concerns with the building’s grid-like, metallic, outer materials and its protection from weathering.

“To answer the question, kind of an airplane grade sealant that is over the metal,” Hennesy explained.

According to Hennessy, the grid-like pattern of the building’s exterior has a connection with the “stacking” nature of how patrons construct their food orders using the iPad. Hennessy also further explained the concept behind the restaurant’s unique brand of service.

“Ninety-nine percent of people, maybe they don’t appear as picky eaters in a restaurant, but everybody has preferences,” he said. “When you make it as easy as drag n’ drop on an iPad, it’s incredible what they can do to a burger or pizza or salad.”

Council Appeals 2010 Census Results

The council also adopted a resolution to appeal the results of the 2010 US Census Count for Cerritos, as the results were reported as being inaccurate.

According to the city’s Redevelopment/Economic Development Administrator, Metrè Anthony, results indicated Cerritos has a population of 49,041 residents, which represents a five percent decrease since the last census. Anthony said the wrong data is due to inaccurate mailing addresses on the census forms.

“Early last year, the mayor sent a letter to Congresswoman Linda Sanchez expressing the city’s concern that many of Cerritos’ residents received their census form with incorrect city and zip code information listed on the document,” Anthony said. “According to the Census Bureau, the mailing addresses used were obtained from the United States Postal Service.”

Council member Joseph Cho commended the staff and residents for their active participation in the census. Cho said the inaccurate mailing addresses may have caused residents to hesitate mailing out their censuses.

“I fully support staff to initiate the appeal to correct the population count,” Cho said.”

The next regularly City Council meeting is scheduled for June 23.