The Bay Area’s first Corner Bakery Cafe opened in Pleasanton. 

Renée Frojo
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Corner Bakery Cafe is rising in the Bay Area.

The first of 32 planned restaurants opened in Pleasanton last week. The group has another lease singed in Pleasant Hill and hopes to open that restaurant by spring of next year.

Buon Hospitality, a segment of Pacific Convenience Fuels — which operates more than 500 fuel, restaurant and convenience business around the country — is running the franchise operation. The company signed an agreement last year with the Dallas-based chain to open 32 bakeries in seven years, bringing about 2,000 jobs to the area.

However, the timing is flexible. “Our timeframe is based more on finding great locations in the Bay Area than it is about watching the calendar,” said John Sweeney, general manager for restaurant operations and a former regional director for Corner Bakery Cafe. “There is no shortage of great real estate here. It’s finding great real estate that’s available.”

The franchise, which is popular on the East Coast, will be going up against Panera Bread, the industry leader in the fast-causal bakery segment. Panera already has more than a dozen locations in the Bay Area and annual sales of over $3 billion in 2011.

Sweeney said Corner Bakery will compete with its “open flame and real kitchens,” that serve up every meal item to order.

On the West Coast, Corner Bakery currently has a number of company-owned restaurants in Southern California and a few franchises in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Sweeney said Buon Hospitality is scouting locations from Santa Cruz to Santa Rosa on both sides of the San Francisco Bay to open other eateries.

Renée Frojo covers hospitality, restaurants, retail and nonprofits for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2012/12/17/corner-bakery-kicks-off-bay-area.html

The Bay Area’s first Corner Bakery Cafe opened in Pleasanton. 

Renée Frojo
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

Email
 | Twitter
 | Google+

Corner Bakery Cafe is rising in the Bay Area.

The first of 32 planned restaurants opened in Pleasanton last week. The group has another lease singed in Pleasant Hill and hopes to open that restaurant by spring of next year.

Buon Hospitality, a segment of Pacific Convenience Fuels — which operates more than 500 fuel, restaurant and convenience business around the country — is running the franchise operation. The company signed an agreement last year with the Dallas-based chain to open 32 bakeries in seven years, bringing about 2,000 jobs to the area.

However, the timing is flexible. “Our timeframe is based more on finding great locations in the Bay Area than it is about watching the calendar,” said John Sweeney, general manager for restaurant operations and a former regional director for Corner Bakery Cafe. “There is no shortage of great real estate here. It’s finding great real estate that’s available.”

The franchise, which is popular on the East Coast, will be going up against Panera Bread, the industry leader in the fast-causal bakery segment. Panera already has more than a dozen locations in the Bay Area and annual sales of over $3 billion in 2011.

Sweeney said Corner Bakery will compete with its “open flame and real kitchens,” that serve up every meal item to order.

On the West Coast, Corner Bakery currently has a number of company-owned restaurants in Southern California and a few franchises in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Sweeney said Buon Hospitality is scouting locations from Santa Cruz to Santa Rosa on both sides of the San Francisco Bay to open other eateries.

Renée Frojo covers hospitality, restaurants, retail and nonprofits for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2012/12/17/corner-bakery-kicks-off-bay-area.html

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) October 29, 2011

Beverley Group Real Estate Services, a San Leandro real estate company aims to provide top tier service and attention to their high profile clientele. The group is run by CEO and broker Sunny Thiara and under his leadership, the organization provides elite real estate services in the East Bay, primarily in San Leandro, Danville, Dublin, Pleasanton, Alamo and Castro Valley.

Sunny Thiara, or “Sunshine,” the moniker many use for him, is celebrating over 15 years of experience in real estate and is known as an expert in business and a very experienced and credible Realtor. He is so good at what he does that he is being contacted by high-profile people, such as players on the Oakland Raiders, celebrities, heads of large corporations, doctors and other elite clients.

People seek out Sunny Thiara because he has worked in all aspects of the Danville real estate field for more than 15 years. He started in 1995 at California State Senate in San Diego when he was studying law. At age 24, he played a pivotal role in helping Qualcomm acquire naming rights to the stadium where the San Diego Chargers play. He worked closely with lobbyists, insurance companies, banks, and other interest groups before moving back to the Bay Area in 1997. He then worked in land acquisition, assisting in the purchase of Crescent Shopping Center in Pleasant Hill. Soon after the project was complete, his career took off with the handling of residential and commercial mortgages and real estate.

“I developed relationships with banks, learning about their needs and consumer needs, said Sunny Thiara. “This led to my success in dealing with individuals and short sales.”

For more information on the Dublin real estate company, The Beverley Group and their services, give them a call at (925) 478-3456 or visit them on the web at www.beverleygrp.com. They are located at 1201 4th Street San Francisco CA 94158.

About the Beverley Group

The Beverley Group provides boutique Pleasanton real estate representation to businesses and individuals in the East Bay. They provide consultation to their clients on a variety of real estate matters, from short sales, bulk home sales, luxury real estate properties, and more. The Beverley Group serves the areas of San Leandro, Danville, Dublin, Pleasanton, Alamo and Tiburon/Sausalito.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prwebreal-estate/san-francisco/prweb8916375.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/10/29/prweb8916375.DTL

Aug. 12 (Source: By Eve Mitchell, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.) - When the country’s credit rating was downgraded, experts thought interest rates would shoot up, another jolt to the struggling real estate market.The opposite happened, but that good news has been offset by the stock market’s wild swings.

Low interest rates can attract homebuyers, but that is only one part of the decision, said Faramarz Moeen-Ziai, a mortgage banker with San Ramon-based Bank of Commerce. A healthy job market is more important.

“The primary factor driving a purchase decision is people’s income,” he said. “And until we see unemployment go down, we’re not going to see (an increase in homebuying).”

Refinancing is another matter, however, as homeowners who have adequate equity rush to take advantage of low interest rates. “In the last week, we’ve noticed a spike in refinancing,” said Moeen-Ziai, who estimated that volume has about tripled.

The past two weeks have certainly been a test for the Bay Area housing market. Wild stock swings, the credit downgrade and continuing concerns about the economy have certainly weighed on buyers, sellers and their agents.

Rebecca Gallardo with Protello Group Real Estate Services in San Jose said she had a client pull out of a deal “because of the volatility. He thinks he’ll get a better deal come December.”

But not everyone is spooked.

“The financial unrest of last week has not had an impact on my decision to buy a home. I still consider purchasing a home one of

the best investments I can make,” Matthew Le, a 26-year-old San Francisco renter who is looking to buy a home in Pleasant Hill, wrote in an email.

“I have not had a buyer walk,” said Joy Di Ricco, a Realtor with the Antioch office of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate.

Still, it’s important to communicate with buyers, Di Ricco added. “They’re nervous,” she said. “If you don’t communicate, you will lose your buyers.”

Before it was evident that interest rates would be heading south, Realtors said they fielded calls from some concerned clients.

Cathy Warshawsky of Bay Area Home Loans in San Jose said she had several clients who were “working like mad” with their Realtors over concerns that interest rates would go up. “They were really scrambling.”

But other agents were surprised by their clients’ calm.

“I thought a lot of my buyers would be calling me saying, ‘I’m frightened’ about this and that and the other. But actually my buyers are acting contrary to how I might have expected them to,” said Anne Walker, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Cupertino.

“There’s so much pent-up demand for purchasing real estate that people (who) are so strongly set in moving in the direction of purchasing, that no matter what happens with the stock market and the SP rating, it just doesn’t seem to be deterring them.”

Economic issues are of course a factor, but for many buyers the choice is really about a place to live.

“Buyers are still careful buyers,” said Kristine Marr, a senior loan officer with RPM Mortgage in Walnut Creek. They want to find the right home and that’s what’s driving the buyer mostly as long as they are preapproved and ready to buy,” she said.

Contact Eve Mitchell at 925-952-2690 or emitchell@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Source: By Eve Mitchell, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

To see more of the Contra Costa Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.contracostatimes.com/.

Copyright (c) 2011, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc. Publication date: 2011-08-12

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Article source: http://www.loansafe.org/homebuyers-have-mixed-reactions-to-market-swings