The Sus Hi Eatstation Story: How 3 Years of Sushi Parties Built 7 Dojos
· By the Sus Hi Team
We get this question at the counter probably twice a week. Usually while someone's watching us torch a salmon portion. "So... what's the deal with the ninjas?"
Fair question. Here's the whole thing.
It Started With Two Kids Working in Family Businesses
Robert Ly — you might know him as Grandmaster Funly — started working in his parents' Chinese buffet at eight years old. Not "helping out on weekends" eight years old. Actually working. By sixteen he was running a location.
Teresa (Grandmaster Miso Eel) got started at five. Her family owns Saigon Market, which has been an Orlando Asian grocery staple for over 30 years. If you grew up here, you've probably been.
So neither of them came into this fresh. They came in with decades of restaurant reps already banked.
The Gap They Noticed in 2008
Here's the thing that kicked it off. Back in 2008, if you wanted sushi, you had two options: sit down at a nice place and spend an hour, or grab a sad grocery store roll that had been sitting under plastic since Tuesday.
Fast-casual build-your-own sushi? Didn't exist. Chipotle had figured out burritos. Nobody had figured out sushi.
Then came three years of sushi parties
This is my favorite part of the Sus Hi Eatstation story history — they didn't rush it. Robert and Teresa spent three full years testing the concept at family sushi parties. Real people, real feedback, zero pressure.
Which, honestly, is a lesson for anybody thinking about opening a food business. Test it on people who'll tell you the truth first.
August 29, 2011 — The UCF Dojo Opens
First Dojo went in right across the street from UCF. Ninja theme from day one. Employees are Ninjas, managers are Senseis, restaurants are Dojos. It wasn't a marketing pivot — that's just how they wanted it to feel.
And then something funny happened. They opened expecting rolls to carry the menu. Bowls and burritos became the #1 sellers instead. Customers basically told us what the business was. We listened.
Robert and Teresa also got married along the way, so this is a genuine family story, not a founding-partners-who-met-at-a-conference story.
From One Dojo to Seven
The growth took its time, which we're proud of:
- UCF — Aug 2011 (the original)
- Altamonte Springs — June 2016
- Lake Nona — Oct 2018
- Millenia — Oct 2018
- Colonial (50D) — March 2019
- Chickasaw — Nov 2019
- Tampa/USF — June 2020 (yes, we opened a restaurant in June 2020)
What Actually Carried Us
A few things we'd point to if you're studying the Sus Hi Eatstation story history for your own business:
We stayed weird. The Mac & Cheese Crunch Burrito shouldn't work on paper. It's our most talked-about item. Same with the spicy Flamin' Hot stuff that keeps going viral.
We leaned into digital early. Over 58% of our sales come through digital ordering now. The rewards app isn't an afterthought.
We stayed open late. 2AM at select Dojos. If you've ever been a college student at 1:30am, you know why that matters.
Fourteen years in, we finally opened up franchising in Q4 2025. Took us that long because we wanted the playbook to actually be a playbook.
Anyway — next time you're in a Dojo, order the Party in My Mouth Bowl (underrated, fight me) and ask a Ninja about the ninja thing. We like telling it.