Rising rent, costs threaten San Francisco's handmade fortune cookie factory

[demmiblue]

The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company's rent in San Francisco's Chinatown has risen to $5,750 a month, up from $1,400 in 2015.



After almost six decades of operation, rising rents and overhead costs could close the doors for good on the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company in San Francisco.

Owner Kevin Chan said he fears he may have to shut down the Chinatown cookie factory as rent has more than quadrupled over the past four years.

"I'm worried about the future right now," Chan told SFGATE last week. "I don't know what to do."

San Francisco's Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company may have to shut down due to skyrocketing rent. https://t.co/ADDo4PId9h via @MelissaColorado pic.twitter.com/0rWvK70Y4n
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) March 7, 2019

Chan told NBC News that the factory’s rent has risen to $5,750 a month, up from $1,400 in 2015. He wouldn’t be able to afford a move, he noted, as the company uses antique equipment.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/rising-rent-costs-threaten-san-francisco-s-handmade-fortune-cookie-n981716?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

[aikoaiko]

1. I'm surprised it was so low as recently as 2015.

Wasn't $1400 the price of a studio in a not-so-gentrified area in 2015?

[More_Cowbell]

3. Yeah, I was paying more than that in rent on a 1961 one-bedroom apartment across the bay

With no dishwasher, in-unit laundry, or assigned or covered parking. That was some low rent.

[Brother Buzz]

5. It's in a basement

and it's so small you have to go outside to change you mind.

[Blue_true]

7. Same here.

The biggest risk to cities are landlords. Cities can't take their properties, but someway need to be found to buy them out, or get agreements to hold down rents.

[Initech]

2. How much does the rent have to be before we start snapping?

I feel like we're getting to that point.

[LuckyLib]

4. Best fortune cookies ever. They actually sell

bags of flat cookie discs — they’re addictive!

[Raine]

6. What a shame

I hope something can be worked out so the company doesn't go out of business.