Woke California Bakery In Business For 50 Years Shuts Down

If woke businesses can't survive in Berkeley, California, then they can't survive anywhere.  It's a lesson learned far too late for many companies over the past few years as American society continues to shift away from progressive ideology.  The tolerance for "inclusive capitalism" is stretched thin and revenues are drying up fast, even for businesses that have been openly left-wing for a long time.   

In most cases, such businesses refuse to admit their ideology contributed to their downfall (leftists rarely admit failure and they always double down).  However, in some cases the truth is just too obvious to deny.

After 50 years in operation, Nabolom Bakery & Pizzeria in Berkeley, California, is closing permanently. Co-owners Sabra Stepak and Julia Elliott (who took it over in 2016 after an earlier near-closure) publicly attributed the decision to a mix of factors, but openly admit their political activism was a primary reason for their downfall. 

In statements (including a Facebook post), they cited:

Backlash over a “defund the police” mural and a “Teach Palestine” poster and being removed from Instagram after reposting an image of a BART car tagged with an anti-ICE message (“Fuck ICE”). They said this incident alone caused a 20% drop in sales, and Instagram had been their main advertising platform. 

They further engaged in opposition to local upzoning, which they said sparked boycott discussions on listservs, Reddit, and WhatsApp. 

They noted that their business (which has thin profit margins) depends on customer volume, and with higher prices on ingredients, utilities and labor, the loss of foot traffic has killed their revenues.  The establishment is $30,000 in debt and two months behind on rent. 

Nabolom has been part of Berkeley’s alternative food culture since 1976, when it opened as a worker collective. It became known for breads and pastries and, for a time, was a popular local mainstay. After the original collective closed the business in 2015, Elliott and Stepak purchased it and reopened Nabolom about six months later.  

A common retort among liberals when it comes to closures like this is that "The business was always woke...", therefore their activism was not the cause of the shutdown.  What this argument ignores is the rapidly changing culture.  Liberalism that was considered quaint in 2006 is now considered dangerous and reprehensible in 2026.  As is always the case with leftists, they push the envelope way too far, the mask comes off and they show their monstrous insides to the world.  

After the 2020s, wokeness still exists, but it's currently on life support.

The smartest move for any company today, from movies to video games to fast food to nightclubs and even bakeries, is for the owners and employees to keep their mouths shut about their politics, especially in relation to their business operations.  Leftists consistently forget that they still have to function within free markets, and in the free market consumers control the discourse.

The message is clear - Stop injecting progressive propaganda into everything, or people will close their wallets to you.