After a brief flirtation with a revival, Homemade Cafe owner Collin Doran has decided the restaurant will not reopen after all.
The past month has been a roller coaster ride of emotions for fans of the Berkeley restaurant that originally opened in 1979. First, the cafe abruptly closed as the calendar turned to 2024.
Then, on Feb. 2, Doran announced that he was planning to reopen for Saturday and Sunday brunch service only, moved by the”heartfelt and overwhelming messages he received from the community. Doran was also planning to bring back the “Everybody Eats” program, in which anyone who asks receives a free meal of eggs, potatoes and toast.
Now, five days later, Doran says he could not make the logistics of the plan work, and the restaurant will remain shuttered.
“I apologize for announcing a reopening which I now have to abandon,” Doran wrote in a letter explaining the ultimate decision to remain closed, which was distributed to Bay Area media Feb. 7.
Doran’s message is titled, “It’s not going to happen, I am sorry, I truly am.” He notes that there aren’t enough customers to remain open during the week, and a weekends-only operation proved more challenging than he anticipated.
“You deserve to have restaurants and businesses with souls and a social conscience as choices to patronize,” he wrote. “However, our time has passed. Perhaps Berkeley and the world doesn’t value a business with all the aforementioned qualities enough to frequent them more often than the more convenient, closer, and slicker, business district located restaurants.”
The reopening plan included a scaled-down menu and a modified service model, but Doran wasn’t able to find enough employees who could return under the limited schedule.
“I was willing to give it another go, however I truly don’t believe my sanity and mental health would survive having to once again do it virtually alone,” he wrote.
Doran also wrote that this time the decision is “for reals, my final answer.”
