This article was updated with comments from Kermit Lynch on 11/4/2019.
Beloved Berkeley institution Acme Bread Company plans to relocate from its original location on the corner of Cedar Street and San Pablo Avenue to a new space once its lease is up in 2023. Since 1983, Steve and Suzie Sullivan have operated on the charming corner, sharing the lot with their landlord, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, as well as the now defunct Cafe Fanny (where Bartavelle Coffee & Wine Bar currently operates).
Acme’s singular focus on making great bread has made the brand a Bay Area favorite in grocery stores and restaurants alike. In addition to the original bakery and store, they’ve added a bake-and-sale operation in San Francisco’s Ferry Building, as well as wholesale locations in West Berkeley and South San Francisco.
“That [original] location had seemed so serendipitous and so perfect that we were never really motivated to move from there,” says Steve Sullivan, who added that he has renewed Acme’s five year lease—an uncommonly short arrangement for a commercial property—with Kermit Lynch’s eponymous owner eight times. “It grew out of the fact that, when I was a boy baker at Chez Panisse and he was a young wine merchant, ... we had this idea that wine and bread would be a really good combination.”
In January of this year, Lynch brought up concerns about congestion and safety in the corner lot to Sullivan and his daughter Becca, the location’s shop manager. On any given morning, a queue of about a dozen Acme customers stretches alongside Bartavelle’s cafe tables.
The line typically consists of regulars who know their orders, and moves quickly. Nevertheless, the Sullivans and the rest of the Acme team addressed congestion issues by organizing shop staff more efficiently, and by moving their trucks out of the lot for pick-ups. Though he was happy with the changes, Lynch didn’t take to Sullivan’s suggestion of a longer lease.