Three young restaurant entrepreneurs who grew up together in Oakwood expanded their business footprint last week.

The small but growing sushi restaurant chain called “Fusian” opened its third location Friday adjacent to Ohio State University in Columbus. Fusian was founded in Cincinnati in 2010 by brothers Josh and Zach Weprin and their business partner and childhood friend Stephan Harman. The trio opened their Dayton restaurant in October 2011 at 1200 Brown St. near the University of Dayton.

The Columbus location — 2,236 square feet on High Street at 11th Avenue — is significant in part because the Weprin brothers are both OSU alumni. Josh graduated with a human ecology degree in 2006, and Zach earning a business degree in 2008.

“We love Columbus,” Zach Weprin said, “and we knew we’d be back.”

Harman, himself a 2008 UD grad, said, “We have seen great success and consumer pride in both Cincinnati and Dayton.”

Fusian offers built-to-order sushi rolls in a service style similar to Chipotle, and diners’ options go beyond raw fish to include roasted chicken and braised steak.

Ohioans enjoy lower insurance costs

Ohioans continue to pay considerably lower premiums on average for auto and homeowners insurance than our counterparts in most other states, the Ohio Insurance Institute reported last week. The Buckeye state ranks 6th lowest in the U.S. in homeowners insurance and 9th lowest in auto insurance, based on average insurance premiums.

Ohioans paid $614 a year — $295 less than the national average of $909 — for homeowners insurance, based on 2010 data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. For auto insurance, Ohioans paid an average of $619 in 2010, $172 less than the national average of $791.

So quit your bellyachin’. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the state line.

The economic blessings of beer

Okay, truth be told, I never know how much stock to put in these economic impact reports, which seem to always paint a rather rosy picture of the members of the organization that commissioned the report. But this one’s worth raising a glass to.

An economic impact report released last week by the National Beer Wholesalers Association shows that:

• Ohio’s beer distributors directly employ 4,527 people.

• Ohio beer distributors generate nearly $1.7 billion in total economic impacts.

• Ohio beer distributor activities contribute $351 million to the federal, state and local tax bases, plus another $417 million in federal, state and local alcohol excise and consumption taxes on beer sold in Ohio.

• Beer distributor contributions to local community activities generate $6.9 million in impacts annually.

Those are heady numbers.