After 51 years on Geary Boulevard, Pacific Café, the Outer Richmond seafood haunt famous for pouring free wine while customers wait, may finally be serving its last halibut. Co-owners Frank Gundry and Ross Warren have quietly told regulars they plan to retire by the end of the summer and have put the restaurant up for sale. If no buyer steps in, the longtime neighborhood anchor could go dark.
The business is listed with an asking price of $195,000 and annual revenue noted at above $1 million, according to BizBuySell. The listing also lays out the restaurant’s equipment inventory, seating details, and beer-and-wine license, signaling that a new owner could walk into a largely turnkey operation. Of course, any buyer still has to square that relatively low ticket price with the realities of running an independent restaurant in San Francisco.
“There’s been a little bit of crying,” said Gundry, 77, who started working at Pacific Café in 1975 and now co-owns the restaurant. He told the SF Chronicle that the decision to retire has been emotional. After decades of late nights and hands-on management, he said the day-to-day work has simply become too physically demanding. Gundry and Warren took over the business in 2014 and have been running it ever since.
Pacific Café opened on July 4, 1974, and within weeks began pouring complimentary wine for customers waiting for a table, a tradition that quickly helped turn the spot into a neighborhood touchstone, as reported by the Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon. Much of its 1970s character remains intact, along with a menu of classic seafood plates served with Boudin sourdough. Those old-school touches are a big part of why regulars and staff are watching the sale so closely.
What the legacy label means
Pacific Café is part of San Francisco’s Legacy Business Registry, a program that recognizes and supports longstanding neighborhood institutions. The restaurant’s nomination and supporting documents lay out its history, distinctive features, and that now-iconic free-wine ritual, according to the San Francisco Office of Small Business and earlier coverage of its Legacy Business status. The designation can open the door to marketing support and small grants, but it does not guarantee a sale or a lease deal for whoever comes next.
Despite the solid revenue listed for the business, the owners have told reporters that rising costs for goods, utilities, and labor, plus post-pandemic hiring headaches, have made the hands-on model unsustainable. Gundry described a 3:30 PM start time and long evenings of on-the-floor management in his interview with the SF Chronicle. That grind, paired with a thinner pool of available staff, echoes what many of the city’s long-running restaurants are facing.
The BizBuySell listing points out a modest monthly rent and includes a detailed equipment list, both of which will matter to any buyer doing the math on ongoing overhead. Even with fixtures in place, whoever takes over will still be up against the same market pressures that have already knocked out other neighborhood spots around the Bay Area. For now, Gundry and Warren say they will only set a final closing date after they either find a buyer or commit to wrapping things up at the end of the summer.
In the meantime, Pacific Café is carrying on with its signature seafood dinners and those famously generous complimentary pours while the “for sale” sign quietly hangs in the background. Regulars are holding out hope that a new owner will preserve the simple menu and communal feel that made the restaurant a fixture in the first place. Gundry told the Chronicle he is ready to spend more time with his family after decades of service, and that the decision, while painful, reflects the hard math behind running a small restaurant in today’s San Francisco.
