Geez, Louise.
The popular San Francisco breakfast restaurant that inspired the eatery in the hit animated sitcom “Bob’s Burgers” has closed its doors.
Just For You Café, a cozy brunch spot in the city’s Dogpatch neighborhood — the blueprint for the Belcher family’s burger joint on the Fox series — shuttered after 43 years on Monday.
Pandemic-incurred debt, rising inflation rates and building issues led to its closer, owner Reid Hannula told SFGATE.
“The long and short of it is that we really haven’t been making money since COVID, and it’s just been kind of a battle,” he told the outlet. “I used a disaster loan to float us, personal money to float us … I love the restaurant, but it hadn’t been able to pay me for the last two years.”
In the long-running series, which debuted in 2011 and is now in its 13th season, Bob Belcher runs his dream restaurant, Bob’s Burgers, with his wife, Linda, and children Tina, Gene and Louise.
Reoccurring characters in the show — which also spawned a 2022 movie — have been voiced by stars like Kevin Kline, Jenny Slate, Sarah Silverman, Aziz Ansari and Zach Galifianakis.
When creator Loren Bouchard was developing the show, he traveled around San Francisco snapping pictures of restaurants for inspiration, and when he came upon Just For You, he immediately knew it was something special.
“I looked in the window and saw something big,” he told SFGATE. “Like, bolt-of-lightning big.”
Bouchard especially liked its pass-through between the kitchen and the front counter, which he compared to “a children’s puppet theater.”
He then asked a local artist, Sirron Norris, to draw an interior modeled after its design, so he could create scenes in which Bob could interact with his family while working the grill.
The beloved restaurant — which was known for its comfort-food menu of specialties like New Orleans-style fluffy beignets dusted with powdered sugar and homemade bread — opened in 1980.
Celebrity customers included Paul Rudd and Drew Barrymore.
“I’m hoping somebody can move in and start a restaurant as soon as possible,” Hannula said. “Just For You was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life, and I want to thank everyone who supported us.”
Loyal patrons of the restaurant expressed their sadness about its closure on Instagram.
“That rare thing, a perfect joint. The world is a smaller, meaner place,” lamented
@kirkrivera8.
“I was hoping this was a late Aprils fools joke! This is terrible news,” said @dailydriversf.
“Such an institution to this neighborhood,” added @lunawomyn.
“Thank you kindly for the many decades you have brought joy to my stomach and heart!”
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
