The article is well written and informative, uncommonly so for
an SFGATE reporter. Three very practical reasons for the closure: The current owner (a decendant from the founding family) is 78 and has been doing this work for at least 65 years. He’s understandably had enough of the pace and demands.
There is a local housing crisis, with techies buying up lots of property. Many places where the restaurant staff would have considered living are now turned into AirNB hotels and thus, off the market.
Even more critically, the average 20 to 40 y/o couple today are just fine getting a Fast Food dinner closer to where they live. Most consumers of that age group do not ‘dine’ in the grand old sense of that term.
It’s also hard to find and keep new employees who fit this sort of work.
There used to be a smaller, but similar seafood restaurant in Berkeley, Ca. all the way down University Ave. at the Marina. It was called Spenger’s Fish Grotto.
Spengers was open for 128 years, and closed down October 25th, 2018. Times, expenses and customer expectations will change with each new generation.
Like many family owned and operated businesses, restaurants seldom survive into a fourth generation