L.A. dining chain wants La Boulange’s West Portal site

Lemonade, a Los Angelesbased cafeteria-style chain focused on veggies, is in talks to take over the La Boulange space in San Francisco’s West Portal, the first indication of what might happen to the shuttered retail spots the defunct French pastry shop occupied in prime neighborhoods like Noe Valley, Hayes Valley and the Financial District.

Lemonade executives confirmed that the group is looking at taking over the ground floor at 16 West Portal Ave., the 2,600-square-foot location that is one of the neighborhood’s largest retail spaces.

The news comes three months after Starbucks, which bought the La Boulange chain in 2012 for $100 million, announced that it would close all 23 locations. The announcement set off a frenzy of speculation about what would become of the spaces. La Boulange founder Pascal Rigo is rumored to be taking over several of them, including the ones in Cole Valley and Pacific Heights. Most of the La Boulange locations closed Sept. 18.

While Lemonade officials could not discuss other potential locations, La Boulange’s demise could give the group an opportunity to quickly penetrate a Bay Area marketplace that is notoriously tough to enter.

“We feel Lemonade is the perfect brand for San Francisco,” said Alan Jackson, the company’s CEO. “We think people will understand our level of food and appreciate our style of cooking and the fact that we are influenced by seasonality and are predominantly vegetables.”

Lemonade is looking at about 12 locations in the Bay Area, including the North Bay, East Bay and Peninsula, said Huntley Castner, the compa-

ny’s chief financial officer.

Jackson, a longtime chef, founded Lemonade in 2008 and has expanded it across Los Angeles and into Orange County and San Diego. He said he started the business because “as a chef I had a hard time finding a casual place I wanted to eat at.” The menu changes eight times a year and is 80 percent vegetables. The smallest portions start at $2.75 for dishes like Israeli couscous (with wild mushroom, Parmesan and lemon truffle) or soba noodles (with kimchi marinated veggies, toasted peanuts and sesame). The menu includes salad, soups, sandwiches and braises.

“It’s the perfect California smorgasbord,” said Jackson.

While Lemonade is eager to break into the San Francisco market, it may face tough questions from West Portal residents who don’t like the idea of formula retail chains in their lush, foggy village of mom-and-pop operators. The group will need conditional-use authorization from the Planning Commission.

“It could be a hardfought battle,” said Carol Dimmick, a local resident.

“We are a small commercial strip and we have a lot of small family restaurants and we don’t have any big chains here,” she added. “A big franchise-type eating place would be a big change for our neighborhood.”

Castner said his team would hold meetings with residents and merchant groups. “We are very much a made-in-California brand. All our design is done in California. We utilize local partners and local farms and all design and manufacturing is done locally,” he said.

Jen Low, an aide to Supervisor Norman Yee, said consultants for Lemonade had reached out and will meet with the supervisor later in the month.

Lemonade could learn a lesson from La Boulange, which won acceptance by listening to residents and jumping into neighborhood improvement projects like upgrades at a local playground, residents said.

“They did a grassroots campaign to pave the way and make people excited about them,” said Tom Kalaney, president of the Greater West Portal Neighborhood Association. “They stuck with it. They put their money where their mouths are.”

“A big franchisetype eating place would be a big change for our neighborhood.” Carol Dimmick, West Portal resident