Business Owners Rally to Save Pinole Family Bakery

Struggling to keep alive a 100-year-old tradition, Mike and Terri Stott feared the end of in Pinole's Old Town late last year. Victims of the economic recession, they saw declining sales. They let go almost all of their remaining employees in January, hoping that they could cut costs and stay in business for another year.

Aware of the situation, some local small-business owners decided that it was time for action. They rallied to create a strategy to help and approached the couple about a makeover.

"We all felt The Bear Claw was struggling, like things were stacked up against them" said Stacey Dillon, who operates a special events company and spearheaded the effort.

Dillon gathered some other business owners — including Lee Ann Miller, Dina Rosales, Alex Gonzalez of the Business Development Center and Pinole Chamber of Commerce President Ivette Rico. They told the Stotts that they wanted to help save the small business with roots that date to 1912.

"I just felt personally that I would feel bad if they had to close," Dillon said. "It would be really sad to see a tradition like that go away."

The initiative got the Stotts off guard.

"I was one of the the last to know," Terri Stott said. "Stacey contacted us and said there were some people who wanted to meet and talk about the bakery because they heard that we were going to be closing. We had some real bad years."

She said she was "humbled" by the outreach.

"It was very touching because there have been times when you didn't know for sure, maybe we had lived our time because everything has its time and place," she said. "In January we announced that we had to cut staff drastically and we'd operate it almost solo and move from there and see what happens. I kind of felt like we were having an intervention or something."

Scheduled after closing hours this weekend, the makevoer will include a new color scheme, counters and a display case, some donated furniture, future new menu items and photos of a former family bakery on the walls.

Terri's grandfather started as a baker in Oroville. Later he moved to a bakery in San Mateo, which delivered bread to victims of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

The re-done Bear Claw will be a mix of old and new.

"Our theme is going to be shabby-chic and I tell them with emphasis on the shabby," Terri said. "If we're able to pull it off we will truly be a community bakery."

The restoration is aimed at carrying on a long tradition that began with an original bakery that weathered both prosperous and challenging times. In 1912, Terri's grandfather opened Popular Bakery on Macdonald Avenue in Richmond. Her father, Ben Hoeffer, took it over when his dad died in 1962.

Terri remembered both fond and difficult times after that.

"In 1968 we had riots in Richmond (but) our bakery wasn't touched," Terri said "My father got along with everyone. He was very respectful and we were taught to respect everybody and get along.

Eventually, Hoeffer taught Mike Stott the art and skill of baking. But he closed the Richmond bakery in the 1970s. Mike and Terri re-opened the business with its current name and location on San Pablo Avenue. It became a new local landmark, serving drop-ins and catering for special orders and events.

"If Michael's family hadn't help finance it there's no way we could have opened it," Terri said.

The business developed as a community icon, supporing civic and volunter initiatives. For a couple of years, it collaborated in a comunity police effort to host an officer and give kids a place to go, and in 1997 received an award as the crime prevention business of the year in California, Terri said.

"We had many young people who worked here five or six years," Terri Stott said. "In 1996 we started a youth coffeehouse with the youth commission as a place for youth to go because at that time there was no youth center."

After covering costs, the proceeds were split between the youth center and the bakery.

Now is a time to adjust to the realities of economic conditions and trends.

"We're organizing financially and taking a look at new menu items," Terri said. "We want some new afternoon items. We have some definite ideas."

She said she doesn't blame the the recent openings of restaurants on both sides of the Bear Claw for recent hard times.

"No, I think there's a lot of creation of foot traffic, we need more," she said. "As far as the restaurants themselves, we don't have any issues. They've been good neighbors thus far. In a general sense there's isn't anybody you would ask who wouldn't say there's a parking problem here. The lack of parking affects our business a great deal."

Dillon said part of her motivation to help has been the value of a local business that has an impressive civic history.

"Mike and Terri have given back to the community time and time and time again," Dillon said. "Whenever a school had a fundraiser or something, they were always there to help."

She also had a professional interest.

"Personally, I'm selfish," Dillon said. "I'm a customer." "I just know that when I see someone that needs a little help if I can do just a little bit maybe it will turn into a big thing."

The "intervention" might not have happened without overcoming some trepidations.

"I know as a small-business owner that sometimes you're just tired and you need a helping hand," Dillon said about why she organized the effort.

That was a big motivator for the Stotts.

"It's hard to ask for help," Terri said. "A lot of people have hardships. For now we'll just hold it together and see what life brings us."