A 51-year-old beloved Outer Richmond seafood restaurant is up for sale — and if its owners can’t find a buyer, it could close permanently.
Frank Gundry and Ross Warren, who have owned Pacific Cafe at 7000 Geary Blvd. together since 2014, are looking to retire, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.) They hope to sell the restaurant to someone willing to carry on its legacy. The asking price is $195,000, with a monthly rent of $4,800 — and a yearly revenue over $1 million, according to the listing on LoopNet.
The reservationless restaurant is most known for its free glasses of wine while you wait for a table, but there’s also creamless clam chowder, breaded calamari steak and side portions of tender rice pilaf on the menu. Gundry and Warren hope to sell Pacific Cafe to someone who will keep its vintage charm, but will close it if no buyer comes forward, the Chronicle reported.
“Our hope is to find a new owner who will carry on the spirit of Pacific Café — someone who will continue the traditions, quality, and warm hospitality that have defined this place for so many years,” Gundry and Warren wrote in a letter on the restaurant’s website. “It means a great deal to us that the restaurant continues in the same style and manner that you’ve come to know and love.”
SFGATE reached out to Pacific Cafe for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
Original owners Tom Hawker and Jim Thomson started the free wine custom just days after opening on July 4, 1974, according to the Chronicle. The mantra of the restaurant became “rain or shine, if you stand in line you get a free glass of wine.” Usually, the complimentary glass is white, though an ask for red can be accommodated.
Gundry was a server for about four decades and eventually became co-owner with Warren in 2014, the Chronicle wrote. Gundry told the newspaper that post-pandemic difficulties like the rising cost of goods, utilities and labor presented the restaurant with challenges.
But the neighborhood showed up for its beloved seafood joint back in 2020 during shelter-in-place orders. Gundry made a GoFundMe asking for $15,000 to help the restaurant survive several months of closure. It raised nearly $28,000.
At one point, Pacific Cafe had four other locations in the Bay Area under the direction of Hawker and Thomson, according to the Chronicle; the original is the last one standing.
“We plan to keep our doors open through the end of the summer, and we sincerely hope you’ll join us during this time to share a meal, reminisce, and celebrate everything we’ve built together,” Gundry and Warren wrote, but without giving a definitive retirement date. “From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of our journey. Pacific Café would not be what it is without you.”