Features

Bread Workshop to Re-Open for Dinner Over Christmas

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday November 20, 2008 - 10:07:00 AM

The Bread Workshop on 1398 University Ave. received an approval from the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board last week to expand into a quick-service restaurant which will serve wine and beer. 

The bakery, which makes bread and distributes it to local restaurants, caters small events and offers sandwiches in its lunch menu, hopes to start serving dinner as soon as Christmas, owner William Briscoe said. 

Briscoe said that the need to introduce wine and beer arose when the dinner crowd started dwindling about a year ago, the last time he had introduced a dinner menu to his customers. 

“We had previously opened up for dinner but didn’t get enough customers,” he said. “We tried to do it for a year but our customers left when they weren’t able to get any beer or wine. So we had to close down dinner last November. I am looking forward to opening up for dinner again. We have been in the neighborhood for 20 years and know that a lot of customers will enjoy it.” 

After starting out as a wholesale business at 1250 Addison St., the Bread Workshop moved to its University Avenue location four years ago and has always operated as a locally owned community-oriented sustainable business. 

It was ranked as one of the top ten greenest restaurants in the Bay Area by the environmental group Thimmakka, given its penchant for either donating or recycling 95 percent of its waste products. 

The bakery also caters to PTA and school districts. The new permit will allow the restaurant to stay open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., an hour later than its current schedule.