Superprime Steakhouse, the Wagyu-and-dry-aged-beef destination that chef Marc Zimmerman opened on Mission Street just over a year ago, has closed for good. Zimmerman says the decision came after his landlord doubled the restaurant's rent and lined up another increase for January, leaving him unable to make the math work despite millions of dollars in revenue during its run.
Zimmerman told The San Francisco Standard that negotiations with the landlord at 545 Mission St. went nowhere, and he ultimately decided closing was better than absorbing another hit to an already thin margin. Superprime opened in July 2025 in the space previously occupied by Yokai, the listening bar Zimmerman had launched there in 2023, and the steakhouse kept some of that concept's fan favorites — uni toast, Hokkaido-style milk buns, and charcoal-grilled skewers — alongside its high-end steak program, according to a July 2025 Hoodline preview of the opening.
The restaurant, located one block from Salesforce Tower, served rare cuts of beef from the United States and Japan and shared its bathrooms with an adjoining nightclub. Zimmerman said the business had the potential to become a San Francisco staple, and that profitable operations like his are being harmed by what he described as landlord greed.
A Building With History, and a Legal Loophole That Favors Landlords
The 545 Mission St. building dates to around 1907, when it was the first permanent structure built on Mission Street after the 1906 earthquake, framed with cold-riveted Carnegie Steel columns that predate both the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges by 26 years, according to Premier Hospitality International. Before Yokai and Superprime, the space spent 13 years as Salt House, a tavern from restaurateurs Doug Washington and Steven and Mitchell Rosenthal that permanently closed in 2020 during the pandemic.
Zimmerman's landlord had every legal right to double the rent. Under California Civil Code Sections 1954.25 through 1954.31, commercial real estate is explicitly exempt from local rent control, per Justia Law, leaving landlords free to negotiate lease terms without municipal price caps. A newer state law, Senate Bill 1103, does require commercial landlords to give small tenants with five or fewer employees at least 90 days' written notice before imposing a rent hike greater than 10 percent, according to Public Counsel, though whether that notice requirement applied here remains unclear.
Zimmerman's Winding Path Through San Francisco Dining
Zimmerman first came to San Francisco in 2010 as part of Alexander's Steakhouse, where he became the business development manager. He opened Gozu, a Wagyu tasting menu restaurant, near the Embarcadero in 2017, and flipped it into The Wild after six years, a nature-focused fine-dining concept that earned him a Michelin nod before closing in December 2025.
Zimmerman co-founded Gozu, Yokai, and Superprime with tech entrepreneur Benjamin Jorgensen, according to a 2019 SEC filing. The two also run A-Five Meat Company, a Wagyu distribution business supplying high-end restaurants nationwide, which Zimmerman says he will continue operating even as Superprime closes. He said he would not recommend the 545 Mission St. space to another restaurateur, but is open to relocating Superprime elsewhere in the Bay Area.
Rising Costs Squeeze Even Successful Restaurants
Superprime's closure lands amid a broader margin squeeze hitting upscale San Francisco restaurants. San Francisco's minimum wage reached $19.18 per hour as of July 1, 2026, adding to labor costs already inflated by the city's Health Care Security Ordinance, per a report from The Prime Cost Pivot. Industry-wide, prime costs — the combined expense of goods sold and labor — have climbed from roughly 55 percent to 60 percent of gross revenue, according to 2026 benchmark data from the National Restaurant Association and Black Box Intelligence.
Downtown San Francisco's recovery has also been uneven. The city added 3,300 leisure and hospitality jobs between May 2025 and May 2026, but SoMa and Financial District foot traffic and office repopulation remain below pre-pandemic levels, per the San Francisco Office of Economic Analysis. Zimmerman estimated it will take the city's dining scene 10 years to return to pre-pandemic levels, recalling a time when San Francisco dining rooms held 150 people on a Tuesday night during the city's earlier boom.
Superprime is the latest in a string of Zimmerman ventures to open and close within a few years at high-profile San Francisco addresses. Hoodline previously reported on Superprime's launch last July, when Zimmerman framed the steakhouse as the next chapter for the Mission Street space following Yokai's closure. Whether a new tenant will take over the historic building, or exactly where Zimmerman might relocate Superprime, has not yet been announced.
