Flour & Branch, a brunch restaurant and bakery near Oracle Park, is facing eviction, according to court filings made public yesterday.
Founder Lauren Arnsdorff started Flour & Branch as an online bakery business in 2020. She transitioned to a storefront at Third and Grant Streets in late 2021, where the bakery still is today.
Per the filing, Flour & Branch’s landlord Christine Segalas is owed $16,103 in rent payments from April through August. The business was notified on August 21 that they were breaching their lease, and a final notice was sent on September 3. In addition to the unpaid rent, their tab is growing: Since Flour & Branch has not vacated the premises, Segalas is suing them for damages — $303 per day since September 9 — incurred by not being able to relet the space. The business’s current rent is $8,342.67 a month, per the lease.
Not all hope is lost: Segalas has requested court permission to evict Flour & Branch; Arnsdorff has 10 days to respond.
Flour & Branch received significant media attention in its early days. Its chocolate chip cookie, called “The Chipper,” was ranked in a Food Network list of 15 Seriously Delicious Cookies You Can Order Online. In 2022, Forbes profiled Arsdorff and her creations after featuring her on a 2021 list of women-owned online retailers. In recent months, the shop secured even more favorable local coverage.
Despite the praise, the road has not been easy for Arnsdorff, who pivoted from a career in corporate marketing. A bout of business-related obstacles, including ovens falling and their storefront flooding, forced the couple into homelessness, Eater SF reported earlier this year. Arnsdorff and her husband Michael Eskenasy reportedly lived in a U-Haul in their shop’s waterfront neighborhood for six months before transitioning to a “roach motel” and finally, a “safe building.”
Neither Segalas or Arnsdorff responded to Gazetteer’s request for comment in time for publication.
