By Katy Budge

(Ed. note: I previously featured La Cocina’s cookbook in my “Ex Libris” series in March 2021, and their marketplace in a “Forks in the Road” piece later that year. I’ve been a longtime admirer of this San Francisco non-profit and its efforts to bring equity to the food and restaurant industry. I urge you to do the same.)

There was probably an audible sigh in the San Francisco food community when La Cocina’s food hall/marketplace announced it would be closing this fall and primarily converting to a commercial kitchen.

True, the concept for a brick-and-mortar extension of La Cocina’s mission was always going to be temporary, as the San Francisco Standard noted in a recent article.

“The lease on the 101 Hyde St. location—principally funded by the city of San Francisco—allowed La Cocina chefs to operate their food stands there at below-market-rate rents until December 2025. Once the lease expires, the city plans to break ground on an affordable housing project.”

But the closure news still stings. La Cocina’s ambitious marketplace aimed to bring 1) more working capital to its hard-working entrepreneurs, 2) exposure to the non-profit’s equity mission, and 3) affordable food to residents of the Tenderloin. However, it depended on a bustling downtown San Francisco workforce to make that happen.

By sheer bad luck, the marketplace couldn’t have opened at a much worst time: April 2021. The local work force was non-existent, and socio-economic pressures were crushing the Tenderloin. The area was always a little iffy, as many big city downtowns often are. But when I made the determined trek to La Cocina in May 2021, things had gotten downright shocking, even during broad daylight.

That said, once I got to the marketplace, it was magical. Even though all the stalls hadn’t yet opened, you could feel the energy, the love, the vibe of potential success. The women food vendors were excited to show you their heritage via their food, and the future looked so, so, so very bright.

Sigh.

However, there is still some hope. Arguably, no business sector learned how to pivot better in the last few years than the restaurant industry, and that’s what La Cocina will be doing. As SFGate explained, “By October, the space is slated to transition into a commercial kitchen, like its Mission District counterpart, which will be available for rent by La Cocina participants. La Cocina’s marketplace bar, La Paloma, and a pop-up cafe with rotating La Cocina eateries will remain open for walk-ins once the space becomes a commercial kitchen, the nonprofit said.”

And so, life goes on. A specific dream is withering, but the (mostly women) entrepreneurs of La Cocina have already fought their way through a lot of battles. This is their latest hurdle. I wish them all the GOOD luck they deserve in their next chapters.