Beloved Berkeley bakery and pizzeria quietly closes after five decades

Nabolom Bakery & Pizzeria, a Berkeley establishment, will close its doors for good on Sunday after 50 years in business.

Co-owner Sabra Stepak confirmed to SFGATE that the bakery’s last day of service is Sunday. Stepak spoke candidly about the challenges of running a bakery in a highly competitive market like Berkeley, where it often feels like “three bakeries open every month” and staff turnover is high. The rising cost of ingredients and utilities have added to the long-standing challenges plaguing this beloved bakery on Russell Street in Elmwood.

“It’s something that happens in every small business,” Stepak said. “Chocolate has increased threefold. My PG&E has increased about 70%.”

Oakland side was the first to break the news, and the bakery has been criticized ever since, Stepak said. On Friday, Nabolom had waited in line from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and was out of pastries. “We probably had our most viable days in 10 years, probably three times what we usually sell,” she said.

Nabolom Bakery & Pizzeria opened in 1976 as a collective owned by Adele Kohl, Nora Chamberlin, Susan Talpers and Lynne McMasters, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Nabolom Bakery quickly gained popularity as locals lined up for its assortment of multigrain breads, cakes and muffins. In 1978, the San Francisco Chronicle highlighted the bakery’s cheese bread. The company started with four co-owners and later added three more collective members in 1978, the Chronicle reported.

“I think being a partner here is the greatest accomplishment of my life,” Kohl told the Chronicle in 1978. “To get a new business up and running is amazing considering all of us and our backgrounds. We’ve been well-liked from the beginning. I like the atmosphere here. It’s warm and friendly, a neighborhood center sort of thing.”

Over the years, the bakery faced financial difficulties that threatened to close. Nabolom planned to close its doors in 2004 after racking up $30,000 in debt resulting from increased workers’ compensation benefits and “poor business decisions,” the Chronicle reported. Amid the uncertainty, six customers supported the business with $500 certificates for baked goods, while Nabolom Bakery planned to offer gourmet pizzas and host concerts to stay afloat, the Chronicle reported.

Nabolom survived, but finally closed its doors in July 2015 following the departure of four members of the collective who left within three months. Berkeleyside reported that their departure made it difficult for the collective’s remaining members to keep the doors open. Six months later, in 2016, Julia Elliott and Sabra Stepak purchased the business and became its sole owners. Elliott, who previously worked at Nabolom and spent 12 years with the Cheese Board Collective, introduced an assortment of gourmet pizzas that have become staples of the historic bakery’s menu.

Stepak said she and her co-owner were willing to sell the nostalgic bakery they’ve known since middle school. His immediate plans are to look for a job and “take a three-month nap.”

“It has made us anxious and we can’t take it anymore,” she said. “We are exhausted.”