Chef Jay Foster on being Black and running restaurants in San Francisco
December 16, 2019 7:53 PM Subscribe
Running Restaurants in San Francisco Made Me Rethink Everything I Thought I Knew About Success “While all of this was going on, I started to put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, to be one of the few Black restaurant owners and chefs left in San Francisco’s historically Black Fillmore neighborhood. I would pray to the city to let me find a way to be everything that the city’s African American population needed, in terms of representation, visibility, and influence. ...At that point, it was even more important for me to do this, to make something for the Black community in a city that used to be composed of nearly 15% Black people, but now is less than six percent. I felt like San Francisco needed this restaurant now more than ever.”
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Within the span of one year, our rent went from $3,500 per month to nearly $14,000. We were working harder and later to keep up."
Some interesting context. A four desk space in the WeWork on Mission/3rd which is about 150 square feet is $4000 a month. Same size space in Berkeley is $2500.
It’s a strange time that without gov’t interference, on the open market, there’s zero incentive to have a retail/restaurant space in downtown SF when it can rent as twice as much as office space.
I’d say come to Oakland but with the rate of construction in Uptown its likely to head the same way in the next 5-10 years.
posted by bitdamaged at 10:21 PM on December 16, 2019
Some interesting context. A four desk space in the WeWork on Mission/3rd which is about 150 square feet is $4000 a month. Same size space in Berkeley is $2500.
It’s a strange time that without gov’t interference, on the open market, there’s zero incentive to have a retail/restaurant space in downtown SF when it can rent as twice as much as office space.
I’d say come to Oakland but with the rate of construction in Uptown its likely to head the same way in the next 5-10 years.
posted by bitdamaged at 10:21 PM on December 16, 2019
This was a heartbreaking read. I remember hearing about Isla Vide when it opened. I stuck it on my "want to go" list, followed them on Twitter... didn't quite get round to going and they're gone.
I honestly don't understand how anyone can run a successful restaurant in San Francisco today. Reminds me of this piece from the owner of Tawla, another departed SF food spot.
posted by simonw at 10:28 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
I honestly don't understand how anyone can run a successful restaurant in San Francisco today. Reminds me of this piece from the owner of Tawla, another departed SF food spot.
posted by simonw at 10:28 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
I miss farmerbrown. They had great cocktails and a convenient location and were POC owned and I went there with some frequency. I'm now working even closer to that location and really wish they had been able to stay open. There were businesses that were possible in the pre-gentrified Tenderloin/Mid-Market that aren't possible when everything is a WeWork or a hipster cafe.
posted by gingerbeer at 11:38 PM on December 16, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by gingerbeer at 11:38 PM on December 16, 2019 [3 favorites]
bitdamaged, they shouldn't have to come to Oakland. It's wild that a major city like San Francisco is actively flushing out its Black population, it also can't sustain restaurants that cater to them and other people who are interested in food beyond avocado toast and dressed up pork belly.
posted by loriginedumonde at 8:32 AM on December 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by loriginedumonde at 8:32 AM on December 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
Isla Vida, our Afro-Caribbean rotisserie chicken concept
Oh man, this sounds sooo good. I'm sorry I won't have a chance to try it.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 10:33 AM on December 17, 2019
Oh man, this sounds sooo good. I'm sorry I won't have a chance to try it.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 10:33 AM on December 17, 2019
God, that rent increase. These links are so depressing and feel so right. I always thought of San Francisco as a good food city, but I'm not sure it can be anymore. Sure, there are people who value quality chocolate and coffee and charcuterie and produce...but that's true of lots of places, these days. I spent a few weeks around LA last year and I realized that the ~soulless~ metro area gave me the best restaurant food I'd had in ages. So many different types of food, at different price points, without insane waiting times, almost always delivering better value and a more enjoyable experience than anything in or around San Francisco. The restaurant business has always been considered difficult, but San Francisco level difficulty just seems off the charts right now.
posted by grandiloquiet at 11:18 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by grandiloquiet at 11:18 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
It's not just commercial rents that are causing havoc in the restaurant business. As residential rents have gone up (along with overall cost of living), restaurant staff (cooks, servers, bartenders, etc) have been priced out of the area. So there's simply fewer people around to do the work than before. But the market is also kind of broken meaning that this apparent demand doesn't translate into higher wages (or better benefits) for those who do stay in the area. Restaurants, also strapped for cash, are still paying minimum wages for most staff positions. There are more job choices but that doesn't help with paying the rent.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 11:29 AM on December 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 11:29 AM on December 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
I do not understand why everyone feels the need to bag on Los Angeles even while saying they enjoyed being here.
We are definitely experiencing the "rising rents driving out locally owned and loved restaurants", though. There are a lot more places to go, but it's still happening :(
posted by flaterik at 11:38 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
We are definitely experiencing the "rising rents driving out locally owned and loved restaurants", though. There are a lot more places to go, but it's still happening :(
posted by flaterik at 11:38 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
Sorry, the "soulless" thing was not meant sincerely. I really enjoyed my time in Los Angeles, and the restaurants were even better than I expected (and I expected them to be good).
posted by grandiloquiet at 11:49 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by grandiloquiet at 11:49 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
This article from a few years ago looked at the effects these pressures are having on the restaurant business: There's a Massive Restaurant Industry Bubble, and It's About to Burst. (Doesn't mention Isla Vida or Farmerbrown, but does discuss other San Francisco restaurants.)
posted by Lexica at 12:35 PM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Lexica at 12:35 PM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
Really sad to read. Here’s a question - how do hipster cafes manage to stay open with such crazy rents? I realize that coffee is a fairly high margins but the amount of $6 lattes you’re selling isn’t massive and you’ve got people parked on their laptops all day for the cost of that latte. Then again, I also don’t understand how people can afford to live in SF while working at a hipster cafe.
posted by misterpatrick at 2:28 PM on December 17, 2019
posted by misterpatrick at 2:28 PM on December 17, 2019
Really sad to read. Here’s a question - how do hipster cafes manage to stay open with such crazy rents? I realize that coffee is a fairly high margins but the amount of $6 lattes you’re selling isn’t massive and you’ve got people parked on their laptops all day for the cost of that latte. Then again, I also don’t understand how people can afford to live in SF while working at a hipster cafe.
Drive thru and order ahead - fast food is now close to 50% order ahead and drive-thru, so interior spaces can get smaller (best way to pay less rent). Coffee does better than restaurants, because it can also moderate it's employment, stays busier throughout the day (rather than a rush of about 4 hours) and can fit in smaller spaces.
It's also ok that people park inside because most people pick up and leave, and people (generally) are bothered by there being no cars in a parking lot or no people in a restaurant, so the laptoppers are actually improving business.
11 years ago (for Farmerbrown) wasn't really before the tech boom, but commercial rents are generally for 10 year terms, so basically what happened is he got a good rate for 10 years and the city's growth drove the new rate up for the next 10.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:32 AM on December 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Drive thru and order ahead - fast food is now close to 50% order ahead and drive-thru, so interior spaces can get smaller (best way to pay less rent). Coffee does better than restaurants, because it can also moderate it's employment, stays busier throughout the day (rather than a rush of about 4 hours) and can fit in smaller spaces.
It's also ok that people park inside because most people pick up and leave, and people (generally) are bothered by there being no cars in a parking lot or no people in a restaurant, so the laptoppers are actually improving business.
11 years ago (for Farmerbrown) wasn't really before the tech boom, but commercial rents are generally for 10 year terms, so basically what happened is he got a good rate for 10 years and the city's growth drove the new rate up for the next 10.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:32 AM on December 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Here’s a question - how do hipster cafes manage to stay open with such crazy rents? I realize that coffee is a fairly high margins but the amount of $6 lattes you’re selling isn’t massive and you’ve got people parked on their laptops all day for the cost of that latte
They aren't turning a profit, a lot of the time! Philz, for example, is doing its wild expansion with the aid of $75 million in VC money. Having a huge pool of cash makes it easier to run. Sweetgreen has gotten $325 million.
Anyone trying to, say, make a restaurant primarily focused on feeding people in a pleasant environment, but doesn't have a (bro-tastic) elevator pitch about FUTURE WORLD DOMINATION is at a real disadvantage.
This future — it's not what I thought it would be.
posted by purpleclover at 12:54 PM on January 15, 2020
They aren't turning a profit, a lot of the time! Philz, for example, is doing its wild expansion with the aid of $75 million in VC money. Having a huge pool of cash makes it easier to run. Sweetgreen has gotten $325 million.
Anyone trying to, say, make a restaurant primarily focused on feeding people in a pleasant environment, but doesn't have a (bro-tastic) elevator pitch about FUTURE WORLD DOMINATION is at a real disadvantage.
This future — it's not what I thought it would be.
posted by purpleclover at 12:54 PM on January 15, 2020
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What does success mean when you hit all measurements of success and it’s still not enough? This seems to be a recurring theme these days.
posted by loriginedumonde at 8:32 PM on December 16, 2019 [8 favorites]