Following vendor departures, lawsuits, Central Ohio food hall closing at the end of the month
Just shy of being open three years, a New Albany food hall is closing up shop.
Bubbly Food Hall—located at 6065 Central College Rd. and first opened in April 2023—will close March 31, Kiku Sushi Bar co-owner Stef (who preferred their last name not be published) confirmed. Mohamed Hassan, co-owner of Hoyo’s Kitchen and Rhino Smashburgers—both former Bubbly Hall vendors—left the food hall last month and also confirmed the closure. Stef said all vendors were informed of the closing about a month ago.
According to Stef, the bank sold the food hall to a new owner who does not want to continue the food hall concept. Other impacted vendors include Hibachi Run, El Burrito Bowl, Dhaba Kitchen, Zero’s Pizza, Boba Paradise Cafe, and Crunchick.
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The closing comes after the food hall’s original owner, Granaz Properties, was sued by Fairbridge Strategic Capital in January 2024 for failing to pay millions in loan payments, according to court records from the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. And in March that same year, Fairbridge sued Granaz again in a foreclosure lawsuit that led to the property being placed under a receivership, or a court-appointed third party.
Fairbridge secured the property in a court-ordered auction late last year. In February, Fairbridge and the receiver filed to dissolve the receivership, documenting the food hall’s March 31 closure.
Reflecting on their time at Bubbly Hall, Stef expressed frustration with both management and the developer, noting “so many red flags,” including perceived unprofessionalism, their lack of experience in the food industry, and overpromising and underdelivering from the developer—like not building them a walk-in freezer or cooler as per food hall standard, or promising a “retro-looking, classic interior” and delivering a very “hospital” feel instead.
Yet, Stef chose to stay, saying that Kiku Sushi Bar’s future is in New Albany, and this kind of opportunity is very rare for first-time business owners.
“Even with horrible management/developer and all difficulties we faced in the past 3 years, Kiku Ramen and Sushi Bar is successful,” Stef said. “Although we are small, we had more customers than we expected. Our community loves our food. We are pretty successful as a first-time business. I’m happy about this. It took my family and I some time to digest the whole thing, but we had a great business.”
Stef said Kiku Sushi Bar—which sells made-to-order, handmade ramen, sushi, and rice bowls with fresh ingredients—is actively looking for a new location and is ideally hoping to stay in New Albany, where most of their customer base resides.
Kai (who preferred their last name not be published), vice president of Crunchick, the Korean fried chicken eatery in the food hall, said due to Bubbly Hall closing, their last day there will be March 28. However, starting May 23, Crunchick will be open every Saturday from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the Dublin Market at Bridge Park, and the establishment is in talks with several food halls around Columbus that have expressed strong interest in their concept.
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