Two Financial District chain retail businesses less than 500 feet from one another — both of which opened in 1994 — have announced their closures: a McDonald's and a 24-Hour Fitness, both shutting down due to the district’s offices being emptied out.

The San Francisco Business Times broke two stories this week illustrating how downtown San Francisco businesses continue to face bad times. On Monday, that publication was first to report that the Financial District 24-Hour Fitness will be closing permanently, though it will remain open through Friday, December 29. Then on Tuesday, the Business Times reported the McDonald’s at 235 Front Street has already closed permanently, as its last day in business was Friday, October 27.

The soon-to-close 24-Hour Fitness at 100 California Street, and the McDonald’s near Front and Sacramento streets, are less than 500 feet away from one another. And as the Chronicle notes, both locations opened in 1994. Presumably, both are victims of the currently moribund office leasing market that’s seeing far fewer workers downtown than pre-pandemic.

The California 24-Hour Fitness says in a statement on its website, “Members, this location will be closing on December 29, 2023. Join us down the road at our Sutter-Montgomery or Van Ness club.” Though 24-Hour Fitness will have four remaining SF locations, so its unclear whether those memberships would also transfer to the 1850 Ocean Avenue and Potrero Center plaza locations.

The San Ramon-based 24-Hour Fitness had already shut down 130 locations during their pandemic bankruptcy when gyms statewide were ordered closed, though the company did emerge from bankruptcy by the end of 2020.

Meanwhile, the franchise owner of the already-closed Front Street McDonald’s, Rodrick Management Group president Scott Rodrick, said in a statement to multiple media outlets that “a downtown that is impacted by high office building vacancy rates and visitor trends that have not recovered since the pandemic. My Front Street location, without the benefit of parking and a drive-thru, amplified the challenge.”

Both of these closures are in the Financial District, whose retailers are obviously reeling from a record office vacancy rate, currently at 33.9%. And certainty these closures will amplify more “doom loop” narrative about San Francisco.

That narrative will likely ignore that supposedly-booming Texas has near-similar office vacancy rates in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, per the Wall Street Journal. The Journal blames those Texas office vacancy rates on overdevelopment, and the McDonald’s and 24-Hour Fitness closures may be analogous. If a national chain has stores all over SF, this is probably an era where over-saturation is a liability. And SF Financial District franchise locations are logically the first on the chopping block.

Related: Starbucks Is Closing Seven Downtown San Francisco Locations on October 22 [SFist]

Image: (Left) Kevin Y. via Yelp, (Right) Kevin Y. via Yelp

A super-size pay raise is coming to fast food workers in California next year, as labor groups just pressured fast food franchises into a deal that would establish a $20 hourly minimum wage for crew at fast food restaurants.

The state of California does not actually have the highest hourly minimum wage in the country. That distinction would go to the state of Washington, whose $15.74 minimum wage slightly bests California's $15.50 (and the District of Columbia is even higher at $16.50 an hour).  

But California is likely to have the highest-paid fast food workers in the U.S. as of April 1, 2024. That’s because, as KPIX reports, a new compromise deal between labor groups and fast food franchises establishes a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers in California, effective in the spring of next year.

"A lot of us (in the fast-food industry) have to have two jobs to make ends meet, this will give us some breathing space," Bay Area Jack In The Box employee Ingrid Vilorio told KPIX.

This was not some grand act of generosity by the burger chains, but instead, a brass tacks back-and-forth between the chains and labor groups. Last year, Governor Newsom signed a law creating a Fast Food Council with the power to raise that industry’s minimum wage to as much as $22 an hour. But the industry countered by gathering signatures for a 2024 ballot measure that would have suspended the law until 2024, if not overturning it entirely at the ballot box.

Undaunted, labor groups countered by introducing legislation that would have made large companies like McDonald’s and Burger King liable for violations, like wage theft, committed by their individual franchise operators. That spooked the big fast food corporations to the bargaining table, resulting in the forthcoming $20 California fast food minimum wage.

"This agreement protects local restaurant owners from significant threats that would have made it difficult to continue to operate in California," National Restaurant Association executive vice president for public affairs Sean Kennedy told KPIX.

The law does not apply to all fast food joints in the state, only those with 60 or more locations nationwide. And it doesn’t apply to chains who actually produce their own bread on-site, or serve bread as a stand-alone item (e.g., Panera or Olive Garden).

Newsom’s Fast Food Council would have the ability to continue raising those hourly minimum wages each year through 2029.

Related: SF Burger King Employees Win $2.2 Million In Three-Year Old Wage Theft Case [SFist]

Image: Arielle A. via Yelp

A new wrinkle in the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between SFPD and illegal Mission Street vendors, as “event fencing” now surrounds the perimeter of the McDonald’s next to the 24th Street BART station.

It’s been about ten months since Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s office first had fences put up around the 24th Street BART station in hopes of deterring the illegal street vending bazaars that were proliferating there (and about nine months since protesters ripped those fences down). There is now a vendor permitting system and more law enforcement presence, which have brought some occasionally encouraging results, though these results vary by the day.

Lately you may have noticed a beefed up police presence outside the northeast corner of 24th and Mission Streets, which has done yeoman's work to clean up that corner. Yet there’s been... something of a trade-off.

The above photo was taken May 29, and we see the vendors have merely moved to the other side of the street, crowding the sidewalks outside the 24th Street McDonald’s. And like that Safeway in the Fillmore, this McDonald’s has started playing classical music in hopes of deterring loiterers.

There were even a few on-duty police officers there that same day, not really intervening or doing any enforcement, just standing there and providing presence.

But what a difference less than a week later. As SFist first observed this past Sunday, barricades have been placed around the perimeter of the McDonald’s. These barricades have remained in place for at least the last four days, and are similar to the barricades that stayed up around the Valencia Street police station for more than two years after the George Floyd protests.

Some of these are branded with SF Public Works logos, so we reached out to SF Public Works to learn more. Public Works declined to comment, though referred us to SFPD, who did respond with comment.

SFPD said in a statement to SFist, "The event fencing placed in the area of 24th and Mission Streets was done so in collaboration with local business, residents, and community stakeholders to help facilitate the flow of foot traffic in the neighborhood while ensuring ADA compliance."

We tried to get comment from the McDonald’s on whether they were one of these businesses, but store managers repeatedly declined to comment to the press. We also reached out to Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s office, and we’ll update this post with any response.

When asked, SFPD did not detail a timeline for how long the “event fencing” barricades would remain up.

And in one notable irony, the Mission Street McDonald's front door, which these barricades presumably protect access to, does not even work. This SFist correspondent has lived within a few blocks of that McDonald’s for the better part of ten years, and I don't recall the store operators ever allowing entry or exit through these front Mission Street doors.

“Come on in” says a sign on the door that you can’t come in through.

The only working door at this McDonald's is on the 24th Street side, which does not have barricades.

It’s not just McDonald’s that has barricades across its storefront. Their neighbors Unica Dental, La Santaneca De La Mission restaurant, Mr. Pollo, and Great Mission Hair Salon have similar barricades in front of their sidewalk.

And as you might have guessed, those barriers have at times simply pushed the vendors right back to where they had been outside the 24th Street BART station entrance across 24th Street. The above images shows the scene Sunday at 5:39 p.m., not long after the barricades went up around McDonald’s. Though in fairness, Sunday is one of the bigger vending days, and similar-size crowds have not been seen there since.

SFist just checked the scene again Wednesday afternoon, and the 24th Street BART side was pretty clear of vendors. The only vendors present looked legitimate, selling fresh flowers or handmade aguas frescas. And there was an SFPD officer present, plus a couple “community ambassador” types in bright green plastic vests. So this tactic may yet work, but will probably have to change as vendors adapt to the latest cat-and-mouse strategies.

Related: In First Weekend, Fences at 24th and Mission Fail to Deter Vending, Mostly Just Block Sidewalk Access [SFist]

Images: Joe Kukura, SFist

Saturday saw the San Francisco opening of the up-and-coming plant-based fast-food chain Mr. Charlie’s, whose menu items and promotions clown on Ronald McDonald and the broader McDonald’s franchise.

The chicken sandwich wars have been a focal point for the fast-food industry as well as several respected local restaurateurs since 2019. Yet now a new war (or maybe more just some David-taunting-Goliath antics) is being waged at SF Union Square at the corner of Sutter and Stockton streets. The McDonald's at 441 Sutter Street opened in 2015, and its McChickens have ruled the fast food roost there since. But on Saturday, a plant-based fast-food competitor called Mr. Charlie’s opened across the street at 432 Sutter Street, and, well, you can see whose eye they’re poking a finger into with some of their iconography below.

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Mr. Charlie’s is a vegan fast-food place with one location in Los Angeles, and they opened their Union Square location here Saturday. According to their Instagram promotion below,  “In honor of our Sf opening we will be offering free mini frowny meals at both locations this Saturday, Jan 21st from 11:11am-1:11pm."

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But from the Yelp pictures and Instagram embeds from Saturday, there was clearly plenty more than just “free mini frowny meals” being served up. HEEE-heeee, is that a Michael Jackson impersonator they brought in for the occasion? Not the choice I would have made since the release of a certain 2019 documentary exposé, but people seem excited in the pictures.

While this SF Mr. Charlie’s location opened Saturday, their food has been available on delivery apps since December. The Mr. Charlie’s menu is surprisingly simple, and highly derivative of McDonald’s and In-N-Out: items are called Not a Hamburger, Not a Cheeseburger, Not a Double Double, Not Chicken Nuggets, and the combo meals are called Frowny Meals. The french fries are normal french fries, as potatoes are already plant-based, and yes their imitation beef is Impossible Burgers from Impossible Foods.

There’s probably an appetite for a new cult-hit California burger chain in the wake of In-N-Out’s anti-vaccine shenanigans. And that it’s vegan, with likely a little less indigestion involved, is probably a plus. The big question facing this franchise is whether McDonald's is going to sue them for aping those names and logos. When asked by the Los Angeles Times about this, co-founder and SF native Charlie Kim merely told the Times, "No idea what you mean. I really want to get people eating plant-based food. That's the goal here."  

Related: SF Chefs Still Pissed About Impossible Burger Shortage, While The Faux Meat Flows To Burger King [Joe]

Image: John P via Yelp

In a continuing public response to last week's story about a black guy who was handcuffed and cited by a BART cop for eating a breakfast sandwich, a protest is being organized this weekend involving many more breakfast sandwiches at the BART station where all this went down.

A Facebook event titled "Eat a McMuffin on BART: They Can't Stop Us All" is scheduled for Saturday, November 16, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Pleasant Hill Station, and attendees are being asked to bring along McMuffins and participate in this act of civil disobedience. "Lets swarm the station eating McMuffins," the event copy reads. So far, 560 people say they are "going" and 1,700 people say they're "interested."

This follows on a similar "eat-in" protest that happened last Saturday at Embarcadero Station.

The video of Steven Foster's confrontation with the BART police officer from November 4 struck a chord with Bay Area residents, not only because of the injustice of getting ticketed for such a benign act, but also because so many much worse things happen on BART trains and platforms every day, and those go unpunished.

Thus, the incident prompted memes, like the one below.

BART General Manager Bob Powers issued an official apology to Foster on Monday, saying that while Foster shouldn't have been eating or talking back to the cop, he was "disappointed how the situation unfolded." (Foster ultimately was handcuffed after defying the officer's request that he produce identification.)

In response to the apology, BART director Debora Allen told ABC 7 that the officer "acted exactly the way he is expected to," and she added, "The whole thing has been rather humiliating to our police force that our general manager reacted this way."

SF BART director Janice Li had some different words on Monday, telling the Examiner that "using BART police to intensely enforce eating and drinking is not making our system more safe, reliable or clean."

Related: BART General Manager Issues Apology To Sandwich Eater Detained By BART Cop

Photo: Evan Amos/Wikimedia

A Haight Street fast-food restaurant that narrowly avoided a lawsuit regarding drug sales on its premises was the site of a shooting Thursday afternoon, raising questions over management's promises that illegal activity would be abated.

It was May of 2015 when McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook received a strongly worded letter from San Francisco's City Attorney Dennis Herrera regarding "numerous complaints regarding narcotics trafficking in and around" the McDonald's at Haight and Stanyan Streets. This, after the current owner of the location "refused to address the issues," Herrera said, hence their pursuit of the company, itself.

In an effort to avoid legal sanctions, McDonald's promised to add security cameras, to fence off parts of the property, to prohibit use of the parking lot after business hours, and to employ a security guard would be on site during all hours of operation. That same McDonald's was open for business Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., when a male victim was shot on the restaurant's grounds, CBS 5 reports.

According to NBC Bay Area, the victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting and was transported to an area hospital for treatment. The San Francisco Police Department has released few details on the victim, saying only that he is a 28-year-old male.

The Chron reports that no arrests have been made, and no suspect information has been released.

As previously noted, this McDonald's is no stranger to police activity — even that of the non-drug-dealer variety. In January of 2016 observant semi-homeless man Matthew Hay-Chapman spotted one of three escaped convicts from an Orange County prison waiting in line for coffee at that very restaurant. Hay-Chapman alerted police, who nabbed two of the three convicts (the third had turned himself in the day before).

Hay-Chapman ended up collecting a six-figure reward for his actions. That case was recently back in the news when a video made by one of the escaped convicts during their brief bout on the outside was released to the media, in which the two escapees arrested in SF celebrate their soon-to-end freedom.

Related: McDonald's At Haight And Stanyan In Big Trouble Over Drug Activity

Like other heads of state who converged upon the United States this week, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, president of the Philippines, came for a conference on climate change. He stayed, of course, for the McDonald's, the jazz, and the guns.

Before returning to Manila from New York, Aquino touched down in San Francisco Wednesday. Escorted by the enormous San Francisco Police Department motorcade befitting his station, Aquino made his way to the Upper Haight and its world-famous Stanyan Street McDonald's, as Hoodline and Eater reported.

After muscling past the marijuana salesmen on break and the undercover cops trying to bust them at Micky D's, Aquino walked up the street to Amoeba Records, where Hoodline witnessed him browsing the jazz CDs. The man Manny Pacquiao may someday succeed is not a Hi-Fi guy, it appears.

Having had his fill of cheeseburgers, Miles Davis, and the smell of OG Kush, Aquino made one more stop on his way to SFO — at the gun store, obviously.

Aquino is a "gun enthusiast," according to Philippines-based Rappler.com, and spent "a decent amount of money" on gun accessories at the Peninsula Gun Store in San Bruno, employee Jeff Downs told the Web site.

"Really nice man!" Downs posted on Facebook.

Lest you think that the leader of the Philippines is all fun, games and guns, he did also meet with John Stumpf, CEO of Wells Fargo, the country's most-profitable bank, and executives from Caesar's Entertainment Corporation, which runs some of Las Vegas's biggest casinos.

Dude knows how to party.

"$5.89" by Troy Holden.

East Bay cheese and pasta pushers Little Mac (founded by Allison Arevalo, Local Lemons blogger) might or might not get sued by high fructose corn syrup pushers McDonald's over the former's name, or whatever ridiculousness. The McLegal team claims that McDonald's owns all variations of "Mac" or "Mc," much to the horror of the Irish. However, Filet-O-FIsh says they're not threatening anyone with anything, no sirree. According to Inside Scoop, here is McRib's official statement:

The facts of this situation are inaccurate. This restaurateur actually contacted McDonald’s legal department to discuss her trademark concerns with her potential restaurant name.

We had a cordial conversation and suggested she seek independent advice. At no time was legal action threatened nor was any legal correspondence sent.

While they fail to mention whether or not McGriddle's will, in fact, might whip out their massive legal team if Little Mac fails to change their name, they might not have to bother. See, in light of the melee, Little Mac decided to re-brand themselves. And they need your help! Little Mac is holding a name-change contest open to the public, one that, if you win, could result in a lifetime of free, fattening mac and cheese.

SFist drove by this billboard near the Cala in Nob Hill on Saturday and mused about how the original phrase, "use them all," could so easily be riffed on by flocks of sarcastic San Franciscans. (We will admit we used to have a fondness for McMuffins before we started caring about what went into our mouths, but we disagree that they delight all 10,000 taste buds.)

Then, yesterday, the geniuses at the Billboard Liberation Front came to our rescue. The billboard is part of BLF's and McDonald's bold new "advertising improvement campaign," “I’m Sick of It.” [Via SF Appeal]

It's unusual that, while Barack Obama had a "Kill Obama" Facebook page, we have yet to see a "Kill Bill O'Reilly" Facebook page. Because, you know, he sure does love to hate a lot of people, erroneously so. Take, for example, his most recent brain abortion when he compared gay folks with terrorists when looking at that gay McDonald's ad. After discussing the French ad, which features a lithe gay man looking as if he's about to come out to his father at McDonalds (which: WHAT), the aging FOX anchor quipped, "Do they have an al Qaeda ad, you know, come as you are? You know?"

Yes, Bill, we do know. You hate gay people. We got it. Loud and clear. Again.

Anyway, GLAAD is demanding a public apology from FOX, which won't happen, saying, "O’Reilly used the occasion to defame the LGBT community, suggesting that McDonald’s might begin marketing to terrorists simply because the company produced a gay friendly television commercial."

Wow. OK. At an appearance onstage at South San Francisco Day in Orange Memorial Park on Saturday, a PETA member got up on stage and smacked a guy dressed as Ronald McDonald in the face with a vegan custard pie.

PETA tells SFist:

The protest is part of PETA's campaign to convince McDonald's to switch to an improved slaughter method that would eliminate the worst abuses of chickens, including having their legs slammed into shackles, often breaking them, and being scalded to death.

This brings to mind a bone-shatteringly brilliant story care of Vogue editor Anna Wintour. In an effort to get back at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, "[Wintour] and Vogue publisher Ron Galotti once retaliated for a [PETA] protest outside the Condé Nast offices during the company's annual Christmas party by sending down a plate of roast beef." Really, this woman can do no wrong. We digress.

Check out more images from today's McNugget protest at PETA.org. Another shot from Saturday's creamy protest waits for you after the jump.

Want to see slinky, kinda nude women bathing in a tank of blood-colored water on Van Ness at noon? Of course you do. According to , PETA campaigner Jena Hunt "organized a protest scheduled for noon today at 600 Van Ness Ave., where two PETA 'chicks' in red bikinis will be crammed together in a tank of 'bloody' water with the message 'McDonald’s Scalds Chicks; to Death.'" (Aside: While we do not care much for McDonald's culinary vision, we highly recommend their Crispy ranch BLT sandwich, which you can get grilled or fried. Well worth the 600 calories. Trust us.) In an interview with the Ex, Hunt explains, there "a more humane slaughter method called controlled-atmosphere killing ensures that animals are killed painlessly while still in their transport crates before they have their throats cut or are handled by workers." Good point, Hunt. Also, there's a "McCruelty: I’m Hatin' It" billboard up at Sixth and Brannan today.