The Mission Street pinball bar and restaurant Outer Orbit just announced it’s closing after this weekend, but there’s a crowdfunding campaign afoot to make sure it’s not Game Over for the popular burger bar.
I am personally of the opinion (fight me!) that the Mission-Bernal pinball bar and restaurant Outer Orbit has the very finest french fries served in all of San Francisco. So I was pretty uneasy when we reported in our Week in Food column last month that Outer Orbit vaguely claimed in an Instagram post that "We have some somber news: Changes are coming to Outer Orbit in a big way and we will unfortunately see an end to our current business model.” They were not explicit about shutting the place down, but you had to wonder.
Then in a Monday Instagram post, the dreaded news arrived for Outer Orbit fans. “Sunday the 9th will be our last day being open,” the post said, referring to this Sunday, March 9. “It’s been heartwarming to see everyone show their love these past few weeks. We love you!”
The Sunday, March 9 closure is also confirmed on the Outer Orbit website.
Yet there is more to this story! Outer Orbit assistant general manager Mary Smith launched a GoFundMe campaign to “Keep Outer Orbit Thriving in San Francisco.” That campaign explains that Outer Orbit owners Christian Gainsley and Elisabeth Kohnke were “going to be starting a new business venture with their new bar-cade project, Indie Darling,” and that because of this, they “can't afford the time and energy to keep up with the demands of their current restaurant.”
And apparently, some staff are going to try to keep Outer Orbit going.
“To prevent the doors from permanently closing and us losing such a fun and welcoming space, I have taken on the responsibility of taking over the business!,” Smith continued. “I will be working with a small administrative team of current employees and friends to bring a new model of Outer Orbit being a bar-cade with events and prioritized bar sales.”
That’s where the GoFundMe comes in. But Outer Orbit, should it survive, would have to slash down the menu and staff, but beef up the pinball.
According to the campaign, the new Outer Orbit would be "shrinking the menu by at least half the amount of options we currently have,” and also eliminating table service. So no food servers, probably, as they say “Bar sales will be our main priority.”
But Smith also says that they would be “bringing in more games to make it a proper arcade,” with a goal of having at least ten arcade games, up from the current seven. They also hope to bring in more events, and they’re putting a call out for event organizers.
All of this sounds contingent on the Outer Orbit GoFundMe campaign hitting its $30,000 goal, and it’s currently only six days into that campaign. Best case scenario for pinball lovers and Outer Orbit fans is that they hit that goal, and a new pared-down version of the arcade survives. But even if that happens, it may be the end of the road for those delicious french fries.
Related: Yellow Moto Pizzeria Calls It Quits on Valencia Street [SFist]
Image: Andrew D via Yelp
