WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA – When chef-owner Nora Haron announced last week that Indonesian restaurant SanDai and its sibling KOPI Bar were shutting their doors after barely a year on North Main Street, most diners assumed slow week-night traffic was to blame.
That was only half the story. Haron revealed the businesses were shelling out more than $28,500 in rent every single month—a figure that left even veteran restaurateurs gasping.
At that price, a healthy 10 percent rent-to-sales ratio (typical for restaurants) would require roughly $3.4 million in annual sales—an Everest-sized target for an independent operator still building brand awareness.
Is $28.5 K an outlier? Not really.
Commercial listings show Walnut Creek’s average asking rent at $45-48 per square foot per year—already among the highest in the East Bay…