S.F. restaurateurs ask city for relief
Chefs tell supervisors costs, rules hurt business
Restaurateurs have taken their complaints about red tape and affordability directly to San Francisco supervisors.
During a special hearing Monday of the city’s Land Use Committee, Supervisor Aaron Peskin and others mentioned the sudden closures of Pete’s Tavern, Pedro’s Cantina and Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria on King Street last week as prime examples of the challenges facing the restaurant industry. After representatives from multiple departments, including planning, inspections, public works and tax collection, gave updates about how the city is trying to make it easier to open and operate restaurants, several of the city’s top restaurateurs spoke about the increasing costs and difficulties of doing business within city limits.
“As of late, we’ve started to consider San Francisco a nonviable market,” said David Nayfeld, chefowner of Che Fico and Che Fico Alimentari on Divisadero, who said he has decided to give up on opening additional restaurants in the city, citing its “completely inefficient permit and planning process.” He
mentioned that it took three years for him and his partners to open Che Fico.
Nayfeld was joined at the hearing by Kim Alter of Nightbird and Linden Room, Charlotte Randolph of Californios, Michael Dellar of One Market, Charles Bililies of Souvla, and Karen Heisler of the recently closed Mission Pie, and many others. They decried the city’s lack of affordable housing and latenight transportation for employees, as well as booming rents, permitting fees and utility costs. They also mentioned vacant storefronts, competition from the tech industry in the form of online food delivery companies, and qualityoflife issues like homelessness, crime and dirty streets.
“It’s really sad to see what’s happening in the city,” said Angel Davis, owner of two Fig & Thistle wine bars, who has also decided not to open new locations. “I’m third generation, and I want to stay here.”
San Francisco has taken steps to ease the permitting process for restaurants, including the justpassed Small Business Streamlining Legislation that is supposed to eliminate redundancies, such as no longer requiring restaurants to apply for permits both as entertainment and food venues. The city has also updated its health code to line up better with the state’s, such as being consistent about which types of foodservice businesses require restrooms, said Katie Skjerping of the Office of Economic Workforce and Development.
Peskin and Supervisor Sandra Fewer both brought up the idea of stopping making restaurants pay for permits to place tables and chairs on sidewalks. Later in the hearing, Terrance Alan of the 46yearold Cafe Flore in the Castro district said the cost of such permits increased from about $2,000 a year in 2013 to more than $4,000 a year in 2018.
Despite these increased costs, however, city tax revenue data show that the restaurant and hotel industry experienced 18% growth between 2013 and 2017, in inflationadjusted dollars. That’s despite the fact that the city’s minimum wage is now twice the national average and restaurants also must pay for employees’ health care, sick leave and family leave, unlike in most other cities.
Still, the supervisors expressed openness to changes that could make it easier to operate in the city, especially during a year where San Francisco saw several popular restaurants and food businesses shut their doors.
“We all agree our restaurant industry is the lifeblood of the city, and it’s having a very difficult time right now,” Supervisor Matt Haney said. “The city is maybe behind the ball in the way we can be supporting restaurants and small businesses.”