OAKLAND, Calif.—Grand Bakery, a Jewish bakery in Oakland, is for sale for $1.
“This could be the opportunity of a lifetime,” said the current owner, Sam Tobis, in an online announcement published on Oct. 12.
The Epoch Times confirmed the sale price with the receptionist of Saul’s Restaurant & Deli, another Jewish culinary store Mr. Tobis owns.
The offer includes “the brand, the customers, the recipes, and the current staff,” Mr. Tobis stated in the announcement.
“I am also open to different arrangements on the equipment and vans, including carrying a loan,” he stated.
Grand Bakery is the area’s oldest kosher bakery and has been a fixture of Bay Area Jewish life for 64 years, with loyal repeat customers from across the Bay Area, according to the announcement.
Mr. Tobis is searching for a new owner who is “passionate about Jewish baking and wants to guide a Jewish bakery into the 21st century,” he stated.
He had no experience when he bought the bakery seven years ago, he said, but he had “a calling to keep the Grand legacy alive for future generations.”
Mr. Tobis followed a suggestion from one of his friends and decided to sell the Grand Bakery for $1, hoping it would help get the word out.
“I care less about making money off the sale and more about finding the right person,” Mr. Tobis said.
Grand Bakery has been serving the Oakland community since 1959, though it no longer operates out of a storefront.
Saul’s Restaurant & Deli, the 36-year-old Jewish deli in Berkeley, was in limbo during the COVID-19 pandemic before Mr. Tobis decided to take over the torch in 2022.
For the last two years, Mr. Tobis has been running both Grand Bakery and Saul’s Restaurant & Deli.
“Being part of the Jewish food community in the Bay is my greatest joy, and I wish I could do it all, but I can’t,” Tobis wrote. “It’s time to pass Grand to the next set of loving hands.”
