After months of controversy over a substantial rent hike, Polk Street’s 24-hour fresh donut mecca Bob’s Donuts will open their much-ballyhooed new location across the street Friday, with a tote bag giveaway and multiple donut-eating contests.  

One of San Francisco’s legacy small business controversies over the summer involved the 64-year-old late night donut staple Bob’s Donuts, who looked to be getting screwed with a 150% rent hike. That led Bob’s Donuts to just find a new location, a mere 280 feet away from its current Polk and Sacramento Street location. And according to KTVU, the new Bob’s Donuts at 1720 Polk Street will be opening this Friday, February 21, at 10 am.

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“We’re finally kicking off our soft opening at Bob’s Donuts at 1720 Polk St on Friday, 2/21 from 10am-5pm!,” the donut chain announced in a Saturday Instagram post. “We’ll be hanging all of the amazing artwork from the community on our walls, handing out some donuts to try, and will have them for sale as well (try the buttermilk if you haven’t already!!) Looking forward to opening our doors and seeing all of you there 🎉 first 80 people in the door get a free Bob’s tote!!”

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There will also be a donut-eating contest, or rather, three donut-eating contests, involving the famed Bob’s Big Donut. These contests will be at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm Friday, and interested competitive eaters are encouraged to reach out to Bob’s Donuts via Instagram direct message.

The new Bob’s Donuts will be open daily from 10 am - 5 pm, unlike the old Bob’s Donuts across the street at 1621 Polk Street, which is a 24-hour operation. And the old Bob’s Donuts will continue to operate at that location until their lease expires in November. So there will be two Bob's Donuts within a block on Polk Street for about ten months, and per the Chronicle, the new location “will probably expand to a 24-hour business” at some point in the future.

“Maintaining a location on the Polk corridor was vital because it allowed Bob’s to continue serving the Nob Hill neighborhood, where we’ve built deep roots over the past 50 years,” the shop’s general manager Rebekah Ahn told SFGate. “Nob Hill has meant everything to us — it’s where our family business grew and became a local staple thanks to the support of our loyal customers.”

This comes after a tumultuous 2024 for Bob’s Donuts. Not only were they threatened with loss of their space, but one of their donut cooks Jesus Zamudio was struck on his scooter in a hit-and-run, leaving him unresponsive for weeks with severe brain injuries. That crash happened on April 21 last year, though according to a GoFundMe, Zamudio was released from the hospital in early June.

The new Bob’s Donuts location joins the chain’s North of Panhandle location at Fulton and Baker streets, and the Marin County location in Mill Valley that opened in 2022.

Related: Beloved Bob’s Donuts Is Getting a New Home on Polk Street [SFist]

Image: Jean L via Yelp

There are few better ways to cap off a successful night of bar hopping than taking an impromptu trip to Bob's Donuts — the 62-year-old fried dough institution that holds a special place in any San Franciscan's heart. Now, for the first time, the celebrated donut shop is opening up two new locations outside of SF.

You'd be hard-pressed to think of a more well-known donut shop in the Bay Area than Bob's Donuts (barring any chains, mind you). For over six decades, the family-owned business has served thousands of donuts — some of which are the size of a human head —on a daily basis to all sorts of patrons. Bob's Donuts' "Usual Suspects," which is what they describe as their everyday offerings, include staple favorites like apple fritters, cake donuts, and more; anyone who frequents either of Bob's Donuts two SF locations can attest you can never go wrong by going with maple or glazed raised donuts.

Well, now San Jose locals are going to have their taste of these donuts of Bay Area folklore sometime in 2023. But even before then: Mill Valley residents will be treated to a new location from the beloved donut shop sometime next month at 252 Almonte Boulevard, taking the space that was once a Bamboo Hut.

As first reported by Mercury News, the new shops won't be open 24hrs like the donut shop's original location on 1621 Polk Street. Reported business hours will run from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.; there's, however, a possibility of the store extending evening hours until 9 p.m. in the future, depending on each location's popularity.

These shops are set to boast more contemporary designs — a departure from the nostalgic, no-frills decor found at Bob's Donuts’ original location. But while those familiar aesthetics won't be replicated, what will exist in tandem are the original donut recipes and preparations that's garnered Bob's Donuts a cult-like following, which will undoubtedly follow the new shops.

// Bob's Donuts currently has two locations in San Francisco, the original at 1621 Polk Street and 601 Baker Street; for a full list of donuts and pastries served by Bob's Donuts, including info on the very reasonable "donut challenge," visit bobsdonutssf.com.

Related: Beloved Bob's Donuts To Open Second Location In NoPa [2019]

Photo: Courtesy of Instagram via [at]bobsdonuts

You've waited all year long and it's finally here: Happy National Doughnut Day! In celebration of this totally necessary holiday, we've got a rundown of all the places around the Bay Area you can score a free doughnut today.

Because everyone likes free things, and doughnuts.

Krispy Kreme

Dunkin' Donuts (with purchase of any beverage. Sigh.)

Tratto (inside The Marker hotel)

Safeway is selling a dozen doughnuts for $5 (which is a deal, apparently)

Consumerist has their own list of spots offering a free doughnut today, but these seem pretty far afield - even for free carbs.

According to SFGate, National Doughnut Day was founded in 1938 by the Salvation Army in remembrance of the volunteers who served doughnuts to the World War I soldiers fighting on the front lines. Eat doughnuts for the veterans!

Happy National Donut Day! Tonight on Dine and Dish @kron4news https://t.co/2k88QhcmGx

— Vicki Liviakis (@KRON4VLiviakis) June 2, 2017

And finally, this woman's reaction to the Trump doughnut:

Related: The 11 Best Destination Doughnut Spots Around The Bay Area

The rumors are true. Dunkin' Donuts is opening 1,000 California donut shops, and they are about to begin construction on one in Walnut Creek. OMG.

We always want what we can't have. San Francisco might be home to $4 toast and $15 coffee, but all some people crave is a mediocre East Coast donut and watery cup of caffeine. Those people are in luck because Dunkin' Donuts is finally following through on a promise to bring their crummy baked goods to the Bay.

The San Francisco Business Times has the holey scoop on the first Bay Area Dunkin' Donuts scheduled to open this summer in Walnut Creek. Matt Cobo, a former Panera Bread franchise owner, has apparently signed a deal to open a (very cliche) dozen Dunkin' Donuts shops in Contra Costa County. The first will be in a former Walnut Creek Taco Bell and construction will begin on March 1st.

“Dunkin has this In-N-Out-like effect - it has an emotional connection with its customers,” Cobo told the Biz Times. He aims to be serving up "Dunkin" to the East Bay by mid-June.

Vishal Shah of the humbly named LLC, "California Donut Kings" told the Biz Times that his company will open a Dunkin' Donuts in Half Moon Bay in the early summer of 2016 and then "Dunkin'"s in both South San Francisco and Alameda this coming fall.

Dunkin' fans who wish to watch the Taco transform into a Donut can do so at 1250 Newell Avenue in Walnut Creek, which is in the suburbs super far away.

Under the title "retail icons," we're including the 97-Cent Plus Store on Divisadero. Still, the pattern of small, longtime San Francisco business closing due to the City's vast economy gap continues.

Hoodline brings us news of the 97-Cent Plus Store's closure.

Capp Street Crap announces the end of House of Jeans.

And Inside Scoop says goodbye to All-Star Donuts on Chestnut.

Not only are all three of these businesses wonderfully-named, they're all shutting their doors due to the skyrocketing rental market in desirable, fashionable, almost European San Francisco.

97-Cent Plus owner Deborah Keese tells Hoodline she's selling to move out of state, but that the neighborhood has changed so much, no one's really buying anything for 97 cents anymore.

According to Capp Street Crap, House of Jeans' Mission Street rent went from $4,350 to $6,500. With 3 and a half years left on his lease, owner Norm Anand claims he was given a 3-day vacate notice and told he owned back rent. Anand's now embroiled in a legal mess with building owners, Mission 22nd LLC. (Not wonderfully named.)

And All-Star Donuts? Why close the 24-hour donut place? Owners told the Scoop that their rent was raised and they could not renew their lease.

Junk, jeans, and donuts; what will we lose next? Your predictions in the comments, please.

Related: Clothes Contact To Remain Open Through Year's End

[Hoodline]
[Inside Scoop]
[CappStreetCrap]

It's arguably the most important day of the year. Yes, folks, it's National Doughnut Day. Want to celebrate? You can always head down to Daly City for afree Krispy Kreme or admire our DIY cronut, but we suggest you start by perusing our list for the 10 best doughnuts around (for purposes of maximum deliciousness, we'd designated sweet beignets and churros to be "close enough").

1. Maple Bacon at Dynamo Donuts.

2. Old-fashioned at Happy Donuts.

3. Foie Gras from Psycho Donuts.

Photo via Psycho Donuts.

4. Applewood Smoked Bacon Beignet at Frances.

Photo: swnktstic on Flickr.

5. Chocolate Beignets at Brenda's.

Photo: bittermelon on Flickr.

6. Psycho Psushi (aka a bento box with 4 pieces of doughnut sushi and edible chopsticks) from Psycho Donuts.

7. Classic Glazed from Bob's Donuts.

Photo: Steel Wool on Flickr.

8. Vegan Lemon Poppyseed from Pepple's.

Photo: digiyesica on Flickr.

9. Buy one, get one for free (if they're in a good mood) from The Jelly Donut.

Photo: Liz Henry on Flickr.

10. Ballpark Churro from AT&T Park.

Photo: Bob_Wall on Flickr.

Inside Scoop's Paolo Lucchesi draws our attention to something taboo. Something daring. Something involving a pipette. (No one speaks of pipettes anymore, do they?) You see, foie gras--the sale of which is now banned in the state of California--and donuts will make a Satanic alliance this Friday when Psycho Donuts gives away donuts pumped with foie gras.

"The Foie Bomb...is actually more of a filled doughnut hole," explains Lucchesi. "It’s stuffed with the foie gras mousse and then pierced with a pipette of honey, fig and balsamic gastrique." It also comes adorned with a fried sage leaf.

The foie gras donut will be available on Friday while supplies last (they're only making 100 of them!) You can find them at both Psycho Donuts locations: 2006 S. Winchester Blvd, Campbell and 288 S. 2nd Street, San Jose.

[Inside Scoop]

Cronuts, the avant-garde brainchild from Dominique Ansel Bakery, have taken over New York City. What is a cronut, you ask? It's croissant dough, shaped like a donut, then fried in grape seed oil and topped or stuffed with a creamy treat. It's only been three weeks, but it has since gotten a stranglehold on the pastry scene. It's the new cupcake, basically, and we want it bad.

The cronut has also created the perfect storm for a $40-a-pop black market. Given our culture's adherence to all things cute and twee, as well as our unyielding desire to wait in impossible lines for food, it makes sense. And the sweet treats are so coveted in New York already that the bakery has capped customers to an enforced six-cronut limit.

"I don't even care what it tastes like," Katherine DeVita told NY Daily News while waiting in line. "I just want one!" So do we... but when will the cronut make its way West Coast? WHEN?! Until that day arrives, we have been left to make our our own cronut (which cannot be called a "cronut," because Ansel has trademarked the name already), using harrowing store-bought ingredients. Brace yourselves.

You know what trend we don't mind? Donuts. Wait, are they still a thing now? Have we moved on to bread pudding yet? or baked Alaska? or strawberry shortcake popsicles? Regardless, donuts, like the earthy black truffle or egg covered in aspic, will always hold a place in our heart. And with that, Sauver recently released a list featuring America's 50 Best Donuts. And three of them can be found here in the Bay Area — two in San Francisco, one in Yountville.

They are:

Bouchon Bakery
"Brioche donuts are a weekend-only delicacy at Thomas Keller's wine country boulangerie.
6528 Washington Street, Yountville; 707/944-22531"

Bob's Donut & Pastry Shop
"The right place for cake dunkers and glazed featherweights under fluorescent lights 24/7.
1621 Polk Street, San Francisco; 415/776-3141"

Dynamo Donuts
"Sidewalk noshers line up at this 21st-century fry shack, helmed by a trained pastry chef, for the organic whole-breakfast donut topped with bacon, apples, and maple glaze.
2760 24th Street, San Francisco; 415/920-1978"

Check out the entire list here.

Photo by Travis Jensen.

UPDATE: Original footage pulled overnight. Luckily, we found a copy of it, which you can find below.

UPDATE 2: Here's more footage via the other side of the freeway.

A few cretins took to 880 North in Oakland, Calif.yesterday to do donuts in the middle of the day, in the middle of the road. In a video titled "Out here shuttin shit down," Crick Filippi posted the following video to Facebook that, according to Jalopnik, "shows some Mustangs, a Camaro and 240SX doing some spins on the highway." That is "until someone announces that the Five-Oh are comin'," prompting the drivers to flee the scene. Ugh. Behold:

Okay, it looks kind of cool, sure. But still: what a bunch of dolts.

Arrests TK.

"All Stars Donuts" by Demetrios Lyras.

We had planned on letting this go without mentioning it, because, you know... donuts. They're a thing. They're the bacon of the sweets. People like and like to talk about how much the like donuts. We get it. Donuts, through no fault of their own, are very Guy Fieri-ish in these modern Food Network days. But that doesn't mean that they're still not the one of the best things to cram down your throat. Where are we going with this? Well, today is National Donut Day, which started in Chicago in 1938. And Krispy Kreme is giving away one free circular pastry today.

Broke-Ass Stuart has more details:

"Visit your nearest Krispy Kreme location to see if they’re participating in the FREE doughnut giveaway. You will have the choice of any doughnut that you may choose. So if you’re a glazed doughnut or jelly doughnut connoisseur like myself, you can have that succulent, fattening baked good at your disposal. No purchase neccessary, but keep in mind that you should at least buy a cup of coffee or something. Remember, you’re a broke-ass, not a cheap-ass."

You can get a free donut at any participating Krispy Kreme. Find your local Krispy Kreme here.

Donuts that are not Fieri-ian? Dynamo Donuts smack dab in the Mission District. They're splendiferous. In fact, you should eat as many as you possibly can. They're that good. And with that, Dynamo will have a donut and beer party today on the patio from 4 - 7 p.m. You would be a fool not to go. So do it.