Brainwash Cafe can’t outlast nearby construction, shuts down

Brainwash closes at 1122 Folsom St. Brainwash closes at 1122 Folsom St. Photo: Justin Phillips Photo: Justin Phillips Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Brainwash Cafe can’t outlast nearby construction, shuts down 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

Almost one year after Jeff Zalles, the owner of Brainwash Cafe, said he was being driven out of business by a nearby construction project, the beloved 30-year-old restaurant/laundromat has officially closed.

Posted on the location’s doors Monday was a sign that read: “So sorry San Francisco Brainwash is officially closed. Thank you for all the laughs & memories. We’ve had a great ride.”

Inside Scoop has reached out to Zalles for additional comments.

The closure is abrupt, but not entirely unexpected. Around this time last year, Zalles said he was seeing a dramatic drop in business as 99-Rausch, a 112-unit residential complex, was being built next door. During peak construction, from Zalles’ stretch of Folsom to the corner of Rausch, the roadway was a blur of traffic cones and construction vehicles.

At one point, a makeshift walkway had to be built in front of the project in order for people to safely get from one end of the block to the other.

On Monday afternoon, employees were still milling about inside the location, though they weren’t answering the door. White paper was taped up to block the view from the street. In a span of about 10 minutes, roughly a dozen people stopped to peer into the windows of the building. Others took photos of the note on the door before walking away.

Jewell Sellers was sitting in the Brainwash patio area earlier today, watching as people passed. She said she’d been coming to the place, mostly for its comedy shows, since 2004.

“The last time I talked to Jeff, he said it was just getting too hard for stay open, with the construction and how much business he had lost,” she said. “It’s sad to see.”

Zalles told the Chronicle his Brainwash’s October 2016 revenue was 20 percent lower, or about $27,000 less than it was in October 2015. And between November and mid-December, it was down 18 percent.

Even with the developer instituting a system where $1,000 worth of food would be purchased from Brainwash each month in the form of “Brainwash bucks” that would be handed out to subcontractors and local businesses, teh cafe finished 2016 with a deficit close to $200,000, $47,000 of which was accrued over the last two months of year.

The construction on 99 Rausch is finished. The trucks and jackhammers and gone. All that’s left is brown paper covering the windows.

“I heard the complex is going to have it’s own cafe,” Sellers said. “That was probably the last straw for Brainwash.”

Brainwash Cafe: 1122 Folsom St.