After months of controversy over a substantial rent hike, Polk Street’s 24-hour fresh donut mecca Bob’s Donuts will open their much-ballyhooed new location across the street Friday, with a tote bag giveaway and multiple donut-eating contests.
One of San Francisco’s legacy small business controversies over the summer involved the 64-year-old late night donut staple Bob’s Donuts, who looked to be getting screwed with a 150% rent hike. That led Bob’s Donuts to just find a new location, a mere 280 feet away from its current Polk and Sacramento Street location. And according to KTVU, the new Bob’s Donuts at 1720 Polk Street will be opening this Friday, February 21, at 10 am.
“We’re finally kicking off our soft opening at Bob’s Donuts at 1720 Polk St on Friday, 2/21 from 10am-5pm!,” the donut chain announced in a Saturday Instagram post. “We’ll be hanging all of the amazing artwork from the community on our walls, handing out some donuts to try, and will have them for sale as well (try the buttermilk if you haven’t already!!) Looking forward to opening our doors and seeing all of you there 🎉 first 80 people in the door get a free Bob’s tote!!”
There will also be a donut-eating contest, or rather, three donut-eating contests, involving the famed Bob’s Big Donut. These contests will be at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm Friday, and interested competitive eaters are encouraged to reach out to Bob’s Donuts via Instagram direct message.
The new Bob’s Donuts will be open daily from 10 am - 5 pm, unlike the old Bob’s Donuts across the street at 1621 Polk Street, which is a 24-hour operation. And the old Bob’s Donuts will continue to operate at that location until their lease expires in November. So there will be two Bob's Donuts within a block on Polk Street for about ten months, and per the Chronicle, the new location “will probably expand to a 24-hour business” at some point in the future.
“Maintaining a location on the Polk corridor was vital because it allowed Bob’s to continue serving the Nob Hill neighborhood, where we’ve built deep roots over the past 50 years,” the shop’s general manager Rebekah Ahn told SFGate. “Nob Hill has meant everything to us — it’s where our family business grew and became a local staple thanks to the support of our loyal customers.”
This comes after a tumultuous 2024 for Bob’s Donuts. Not only were they threatened with loss of their space, but one of their donut cooks Jesus Zamudio was struck on his scooter in a hit-and-run, leaving him unresponsive for weeks with severe brain injuries. That crash happened on April 21 last year, though according to a GoFundMe, Zamudio was released from the hospital in early June.
The new Bob’s Donuts location joins the chain’s North of Panhandle location at Fulton and Baker streets, and the Marin County location in Mill Valley that opened in 2022.
Related: Beloved Bob’s Donuts Is Getting a New Home on Polk Street [SFist]
Image: Jean L via Yelp
