California: Nabolom Bakery struggles to survive

It looks like the end for Nabolom Bakery of Berkeley, the anarchist collective that turns out pastries to tempt even the most bourgeois palate. Posted on Sun, Apr. 10, 2005

By Martin Snapp
STAFF WRITER

It looks like the end for Nabolom Bakery of Berkeley, the anarchist collective that turns out pastries to tempt even the most bourgeois palate.

"The people in the neighborhood have been wonderful," said chief financial officer Jim Burr. "Our retail sales have jumped by 30 percent since word got around last year that we were struggling. But we're still losing $2,000 to $3,000 every month. What we need is a large wholesale account. If we can't find one by the end of the month, we'll have to either close our doors or sell to a private buyer."

Anticipating the worst, the collective has already opened negotiations to sell the business to the Association of Arizmendi Co-Operative Bakeries, an umbrella group that includes the Cheese Board in Berkeley and the Arizmendi bakeries in Oakland, Emeryville and San Francisco.

"They'd probably keep our recipes, since that's our main drawing card," said Burr. "But whether they'd retain any of us is anybody's guess."

If not, Nabolom's 14 workers will scatter to the winds. Burr, for instance, will move to Okinawa, where he'll live as a military dependent on the local Navy base, "which is a rather odd place for an anarchist to be," he said with a laugh. His fiancee is joining the Navy.

The pressure to find a buyer is great, since several of the workers have invested their life's savings in an attempt to keep the bakery alive -- money they'll lose if it goes belly-up.

Nabolom -- the name is Mayan for "house of fire" -- has been a fixture in the Elmwood neighborhood since 1976. From the start, customers have been addicted to its sinfully fattening but oh-so-delicious chocolate croissants, almond bear feet, brown sugar snails, and its biggest seller: the "Infamous Cinnamon Twists," loaded with cinnamon, butter, sugar, and barely enough flour to hold it all together.

"I can't start my day without my cinnamon twist," said loyal customer Sondra Oh, who buys one every morning to munch on her way to work.

So fanatical are cinnamon twist devotees, Nabolom receives orders from all over the country and abroad. "We have one customer in Germany who really loves them," said collective member Zach Wittmer.

As a stopgap, collective members are leafleting the neighborhood with fliers and negotiating with the owner of the 7-Eleven across the street to use the kiosk in his parking lot as a carry-out stand.

"Nobody wants to give up," said Burr. "We love this place. It's a labor of love, a chance to put into practice our anarchist values of voluntary cooperation and mutual aid. But unless a miracle happens, we'll be gone by June 1."

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/11359570.htm