Six nights a week, while the rest of the city sleeps, a cluster of Bayview warehouses becomes the center of San Francisco's food world. Trucks start arriving around 11 p.m. with produce from more than 350 regional farmers. By 3 a.m., buyers from restaurants, grocers, caterers and corner stores are shopping the aisles. By 10 a.m., it is quiet again.
A market most people never see
SF Market traces its roots to the 1870s and has operated on city-owned land in the Bayview since 1963. Nearly two dozen merchants with more than 500 employees work there. One is Stanley Produce, founded in 1941, which specializes in mushrooms, endive and radicchio. Unlike a farmers market, it is closed to the public and sells in bulk. It also donates more than 4,000 pounds of produce a day to 15 nonprofits.
The expansion
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved amendments to the market's lease that allow a 64,000-square-foot distribution center at 1900 Kirkwood. It replaces an outdated, mostly vacant building. It will be the market's first new building since 901 Rankin St., an 82,000-square-foot LEED Gold warehouse completed in 2015. The project will cost tens of millions of dollars. It will be funded with market profits, government money including a $5 million state grant, and low-interest loans. Executive Director Michael Janis expects to break ground in the first half of 2027 and finish about 15 months later.
How the land deal works
The city leases the 23-acre campus to the nonprofit market for free, and the market reinvests its proceeds in its operations. A 60-year ground lease signed in 2013 runs through 2073. Janis is also talking with real estate firms and philanthropists about daytime uses, such as kitchens for caterers.