SF bakery shutters following discovery of rodent infestation

SAN FRANCISCO - Destination Bakery in the Glen Park neighborhood has been shut down by the San Francisco Department of Public Health after inspectors discovered severe violations at the establishment.

An SFDPH official first inspected the bakery – located at 598 Chenery St. – on March 10, where they found "one live rodent in [the] kitchen area" and another fossilized rodent dead in a trap, according to a report.

The health department report also revealed that the inspector found rodent droppings on the floor throughout the bakery, as well as on pie tins, cake boxes, in the railing of a door to a refrigerated display case and in the dry storage area located in the bakery's garage.

The inspector also found two bags of flour with gnaw marks, causing some of the flour to spill out into a container that was also contaminated with rodent droppings.

The SFDPH report indicated that the owner of the establishment had taken measures in an effort to alleviate the infestation, such as by repairing the bakery's garage door. However, the report also found that there were still several points of entry for vermin to utilize, and the department ordered the bakery to close until it could remove all rodent droppings, clean and sanitize all surfaces where the droppings were located, get professionally licensed pest control services to treat the bakery for rodents, seal all holes and gaps, discard all bags of produce that were found to be contaminated and rodent-proof the entire bakery.

Upon a reinspection of Destination Bakery that was carried out Tuesday, the same inspector found another live rodent in the kitchen, as well as rodent droppings throughout the building.

Destination Bakery – which opened in 2000 – will have to remain closed until all of the documented violations have been rectified and the bakery’s permit has been reinstated.

KTVU attempted to reach out to Destination Bakery for comment on the closure. However, the phone number listed on the bakery's website was disconnected.

Local perspective:

Destination Bakery caused concern among patrons and locals in 2023 when the establishment abruptly became a Mexican restaurant named Mamacita's Café de Amor. The bakery's owner and workers, along with members of the Glen Park Association and the Glen Park Merchants Association, were assailed with messages from the community lamenting what appeared to be the loss of a neighborhood staple.

However, it was later revealed that the bakery was the site of a film shoot by a crew of seven City College of San Francisco film students, who temporarily transformed Destination Bakery into Mamacita's for a 17-minute short film.