Local organic health food restaurant San Francisco (seeking community support to stay open).

I wanted to reach out to let you know I am fundraising to help a friend and long time health based restaurant stay in business while the city of San Francisco tries to shut it down.  The Plant cafe was started by 2 friends, Matthew and Mark in San Francisco, and grew from 1 location to several over 20 years.  They started the restaurants in 2005 after a family member got cancer and they understood the importance of clean food to both heal and stay healthy.   Their mission is to provide 100% organic ingredients sourced from local farms to offer safe options for people, and support the smaller farms we need.

Over the last 20 years, they were voted the bay area's most sustainable restaurant, and more recently one of the global leaders in ethical food service.  Hospitals and schools are among their customers and they have become known for providing healthy local organic food.  After the long lasting covid lockdowns in San Francisco, they were forced to shut all except 1 restaurant, which is still a thriving location serving the community.

The lockdowns were tough, with several landlords suing for rent for pandemic closed stores.  Both friends sold their houses to pay the landlords, they lost most locations, and all of the equipment in each closed store.

There is still a big demand for clean and healthy food at their remaining location, but the city of San Francisco is threatening to shut them down if they do not immediately pay "unsecured property taxes" on the equipment they no longer own (due to the city's long mandated lockdowns).  

"Unsecured property taxes"... Equipment is taxed when purchased, but the state of California also charges unsecured property taxes on equipment year after year.  Two years after the covid lockdowns began, The Plant was issued a tax bill for equipment they no longer own.  These restaurants were closed permanently in March 2020 and yet the city demands they pay for the entire year for all equipment for permanently closed stores.  When they told the city they couldn't afford to pay for multiple closed location's equipment with one remaining store, the response was: pay or be closed down.

After trying to fight this through the mayor's office and other city advocates, they were later told in addition they would also need to pay 2 years of late interest penalties, while the city refused to show any proof they were notified 2 years prior.  The Plant has been trying everything to fight this, they went to the San Francisco Chronicle, contacting journalist Laura Waxman who was eager to tell the story and share some of the email exchanges with the city, but ultimately she was not permitted by her editor to do the story.
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For the Plant to survive, they need help to pay off the city.  
 
They hope that others that value healthy food, organic farms and supporting one another when the government is doing the opposite, will help out.  At a time when healthy food and mission based companies are more important than ever, we're looking to raise money to keep them alive and continue to serve the community. 

Matt and Mark tried to negotiate this deal for months with only nasty responses from the city with none of the responsible city offices (sftax, sf assessors, sf appeals) willing to help out at all and after trying to negotiate the SF tax authorities went for a summary judgement with no appeal and started taking money directly out of their bank account with no notice and that forced them into a settlement agreement that gave them no room to negotiate. The whole scenario is so repulsive and smacks of big city greed and desperation
The Plant has a talented chef, committed team, long time customers, and people interested in franchising to spread the mission. 

The more people that hear about the cause, the more likely we can reach the fundraising goal and they can stay open.

Please help if you can. If you could share this fundraiser link with your friends, it would mean so much. 

PRESS RELEASE

The Plant Cafe began in San Francisco’s Marina neighborhood- the idyllic dream of two good friends, Mark Lewis and Matthew Guelke. Was it economically possible, they wondered, to create an ethical and sustainable restaurant? One that was one hundred percent organic, locally sourced, and sustainable down to the solar power and local materials to build it?

As it turned it - it was, and from the moment it opened, the little organic neighborhood restaurant that could was a success. For almost 20 years, the restaurant with the reputation for being the “greenest”  in San Francisco would go on to open four more locations in San Francisco. It was just what San Francisco needed.

Then any small business owner will tell you what happened next - Covid.
 
The lockdowns made paying rent for businesses that were not allowed to operate an absolute disaster. Even though rent could be initially deferred, ultimately business owners would have to pay some or all of the back rent at some point, depending on the discretion and patience of their individual landlord(s). As with most small businesses in the city, The Plant Cafe were able to secure a PPP (a small business emergency loan) - but it was nowhere near enough - and most of that money, too, would need to be paid back at some point.

With no other options, and the lockdowns dragging on with no clear end in sight, the decision was made to keep the location with the lowest operating costs, cross fingers that it would be allowed to open again at some point, break the leases on the other locations, and somehow pay the back rent from four businesses with the tentative future profits generated from the sole remaining location. Desperate and with no other option, the two friends both sold their personal houses to pay the back rent.

However, forfeiting a business means that the landlords now own all the equipment in the businesses. Equipment is initially taxed when purchased, but the state of California also additionally charges unsecured property taxes on equipment every year.  Two years after the covid lockdowns began, The Plant was issued a tax bill for equipment they had not been able to use since March of 2020- and that they no longer owned.

Eventually the lone location returned to it’s full serving capabilities - however, it is needless to point out that that the profits generated by one restaurant are not anywhere close to the amount needed to sustain itself, pay wages AND pay off the taxes/penalties of the four former locations.
 
Broke and with no remaining assets, the owners then embarked on a campaign to find some guidance, loans, grants, payment plans, etc. within local government who had initially swore to do right by the small businesses who were left standing after the storm. The city’s response? Keep paying the exorbitant payments on time or be closed down permanently.
 
The friends bewilderedly took their case to the mayor’s office, to city advocates, various city officials, pleading for leniency- and meanwhile taking out loan after loan to make back payments possible. A plea to the mayor for help resulted in another setback- the sudden demand of two years worth of late interest penalties on the equipment tax.

Shocked, Guelke and Lewis asked how they could suddenly pay late interest penalties when they had never been notified that they owed any interest.  It seemed suspicious that the inquiries of the ethics of the matter had triggered an even harsher demand. When city authorities were asked for a time-stamped proof of this request - a letter, emails, texts, phone calls - the response was that they weren’t required to show any proof of documentation requesting back payment.
 
For months, the owners tried to negotiate with SF tax authorities, reaching out to the Office of Small Businesses headed by Katy Tang, executive director.  A local government office whose mission is to “equitably support, preserve and protect small businesses in San Francisco.” Tang was supportive but ultimately had no pull with the SF Tax Collections department. The owners were forced into a sudden summary judgement with no appeal - and money abruptly removed their bank account with no warning or payment plan in place.



Trying another avenue, the pair then poured out their story to a sympathetic journalist, Laura Waxman at the San Francisco Chronicle. In a long phone conversation, Waxman said she was extremely eager to show the emails and outlandish hoop jumping, but just needed to clear it with her editor. But then Waxman suddenly went dark and would not return any attempts made to contact her. It seems most likely that the SF Chronicle’s editors did not want to investigate the city’s corruption and seemingly self-made playbook.




The fight the Plant Cafe is undergoing is the fight we are all in for San Francisco.  Administrative greed  and bureaucratic vampires have snuck in the back door of our progressive town - a town that we the people of SF, the immigrants, the quirky, the underdogs -all of us who refused to kiss the corporate ring-built ourselves using honest labor, fair business practices, and our blood, sweat and tears. We CANNOT afford to let this keep happening.

Please share with anyone who could help, could donate, or even those who need to be made aware what so many small businesses owners are fighting for just to stay afloat. For any independent members of the press who dare stand up to the big guns- yes, we bring all the receipts and will give you full access to all our correspondence with the city.

Be warned - the amount of begging and pleading for amnesty is met with absolute vitriol from some of our elected officials and is hard to stomach. The Chronicle is quick to lament the small businesses disappearing in record numbers, but not so keen to disclose exactly why.

Thank you, people of San Francisco. We believe in the Plant Cafe, and we also believe in you.