Category: Business

By Sara Beth Williams–
Matt Dockendorf, a 15-year customer of Beach Hut Deli in Citrus Heights, is slated to take over ownership of the eatery next month.

Dockendorf will officially acquire the Beach Hut Deli on July 1, 2023, according to current restaurant owner and longtime Citrus Heights resident Christina DeCelle. In an interview with The Sentinel, Dockendorf called owning Beach Hut Deli a “great opportunity” and he hopes to create a legacy for his children. He plans for the restaurant to continue partnering with the Kiwanis Club of Citrus Heights, as well as increase the level of charity and community service participation by partnering with local schools.

Dockendorf has been a longtime customer of the Beach Hut Deli, since before the restaurant relocated to Sunrise Boulevard, according to DeCelle. Early in 2023, Dockendorf agreed to purchase the location from DeCelle.

Dockendorf has partnered with DeCelle and the Beach Hut Deli in the past during Kiwanis Club golf tournament fundraisers and other charity events. He plans to remodel and update the deli with “new, fresh ideas” and also anticipates partnering with Casa Roble High School’s Agricultural Department by providing them with unused food scraps from the restaurant.

DeCelle has owned the Beach Hut Deli for over 18 years, and currently still owns two other Beach Hut Deli locations, along with several other businesses in the Sacramento area, including Ben’s Barketplace, a health food store for pets. She plans to continue expanding her health food for pets business and hopes to open more locations in the future.

To celebrate the last 18 years and officially welcome Dockendorf, DeCelle is hosting a farewell event at the Beach Hut Deli on June 30 beginning at 3 p.m. and has invited any former employees to come and work one last night. The event is open to the public, and details can be found on the event’s Facebook page.

Beach Hut Deli is located at 6406 Sunrise Blvd, Suite B, in Citrus Heights.

By Mike Hazlip—
In a report to the Citrus Heights City Council last month, the executive director of Sunrise MarketPlace outlined efforts to keep the city’s prime commercial corridor free of debris and blight while reducing crime.

In her annual report, Sunrise MarketPlace Executive Director Kathilynn Carpenter said her Property-based Business Improvement District (PBID) was originally formed to fund marketing and special events, but now spends about 38 percent of its budget on security and maintenance. That amounts to about $325,000 annually, Carpenter said.

The private security company hired by SMP logged 620 incidents involving transients, trespassing, camps, and vandalism in 2022, according to the presentation. The second highest category was 160 incidents involving theft prevention, recovery, and assistance, Carpenter said.

“As you can see, we prevent a lot of theft,” Carpenter told the council.

Carpenter, who also serves on the board of directors with Citrus Heights Homeless Assistance Resource Team, drew a distinction between “transients” and “homeless,” calling transients those who are unwilling to seek assistance. She said MarketPlace security and police know “70 to 80″ regulars.

“It’s a big part of what we do but we feel that this allows our consumers and our customers to feel safe,” said Carpenter, referring to the district’s security and maintenance efforts.

A porter service contracted in April last year works to keep the marketplace free of debris, with nearly 200 reports of removing debris such as furniture and mattresses, according to the annual report. Carpenter said illegal dumping is a significant reoccurring problem throughout the district, but particularly near vacant buildings at Sunrise Mall.

The service also picked up or returned 902 shopping carts, removed 474 bags of trash, and removed 141 graffiti tags, Carpenter’s report showed.

“There are dozens, hundreds — I really can’t express the amount of stuff that we have to clean up,” Carpenter said.

The district has pending grants with SMUD and the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) program for installing additional security cameras and lighting in an effort to curb the amount of illegally dumped debris, she said.

“The mall is a very big target for it,” Carpenter said of illegal dumping. “The mall is very good about picking up their own dumped items by the way. We also work closely with Ethan Conrad and his property manager, who I’m happy to report is very responsive.”

MarketPlace security also works with police to remove any homeless camps, Carpenter said.

“We don’t want to be a place where camps can be established,” Carpenter said. “As you have seen on Roseville Road and places downtown or midtown, once they’re established, it’s very difficult, so we just move them immediately.”

Carpenter also highlighted vandalism in the MarketPlace, saying police did a “fabulous job” in tracking down the vandals responsible for twice breaking windows at the Fukumi Ramen restaurant. The Sentinel previously reported the owner of a Roseville-based business that installs commercial windows was arrested in connection with the vandalism.

The MarketPlace has a contract with Lowe’s to purchase and match paint to remove graffiti, Carpenter said.

Most of the MarketPlace’s marketing efforts are focused on social media and some radio spots, Carpenter said. There are also ongoing efforts to engage the more than 400 businesses in the corridor.

Following her report, Vice Mayor Bret Daniels thanked Carpenter for her efforts, calling her a “jewel.” He also credited her with being “directly responsible for the success of Citrus Heights.”

“If there was no PBID, I don’t know,” said Daniels, speculating what the area would be like without the business improvement district’s efforts. “I think it would cause us to look so bad.”

Daniels also noted that the city gets a significant portion of revenue from sales tax, pinning much of that figure on revenue generated by shoppers in the Sunrise MarketPlace.

“We have to make sure that that area stays alive and stays vibrant, it stays a place where people want to come up and spend their dollars,” said Daniels.

By Mike Hazlip—
Sunrise Mall is losing another retailer, as a clothing store in the mall’s more active section announced they will close at the end of June.

An employee for Choice told The Sentinel that the impending closure is due in part to a recent rent increase and lack of foot traffic. Signs posted at the store say the business will close June 30.

The employee, who did not provide a full name, said the store’s merchandise will be sent to other affiliated stores located outside the Sacramento area.

The store sells women’s and children’s clothing.

As previously reported, while the mall saw the closures of several tenants last year, it also saw the opening of a toy shop, jewelry store, and a tech store. A West African cuisine and a performing arts nonprofit also opened at Sunrise Mall in 2022.

The city’s long-term plan for Sunrise Mall includes guiding redevelopment of the nearly 100-acre site to include adding up to 2,200 multi-family residential units, along with 480 hotel rooms, 320,000-square-feet of retail, 960,000-square-feet of office/employment use, and 450,000-square-feet of community or institutional space.

According to the city, the first phase of the plan will likely involve developing unused parking areas over the next five years, with the full plan expected to take 20 years. The second phase will likely incorporate office space, retail, dining, and an extended-stay hotel. The third and final phases include redeveloping the existing mall into a new “21st Century Main Street.”

By Sara Beth Williams–
Over Memorial Day Weekend, a local Citrus Heights resident said she found a cockroach cooked into her piece of pizza while eating at the Sam’s Club food court on Greenback Lane, prompting a complaint to management as well as to county health officials.

On Saturday, May 27, after eating at the Sam’s Club food court cafe, Carlie Crowell complained to management staff that she bit into a cockroach that had been cooked into her piece of pizza. She also posted an account of the incident on Facebook, advising people avoid the food court “unless you’re looking to add some extra protein in your diet.”

In an interview with The Sentinel, Crowell reported that she spoke with Sam’s Club management to show them what she’d encountered while eating and received a gift card as compensation.

Later, she contacted Sam’s Club’s corporate office but said she was told no incident report had been filed and that she would need to return to file an incident at the location to obtain an incident report number. Crowell also contacted Sacramento County to file a food safety complaint.

Multiple calls to the Sam’s Club café by Sentinel staff have gone unanswered, and it is unclear whether any other action has been taken either by Sam’s Club management or café staff following Crowell’s allegation.

In a phone call with Sam’s Club management on Wednesday, management staff did not confirm or deny the incident, and referred The Sentinel to the company’s Media Relations team. No member of the Media Relations team was available for comment before press time on Friday.

A call by Sentinel staff to the Environmental Management Department of Sacramento County, which handles public health inspections and enforcement, confirmed that a food safety complaint had been filed with the county. Public Relations Officer Kenneth Casparis confirmed on Thursday that a complaint matching the description had been made against Sam’s Club in Citrus Heights and that the Environmental Management Division plans to investigate the allegation.

Casparis indicated that allegations are typically investigated within 72 hours of receipt. However, because the complaint was made over a holiday weekend, Environmental Management staff did not receive the incident complaint until Tuesday, May 30. Casparis did confirm that a representative of the division will visit in-person to investigate, and that a report should be available next week.