Royal Bakery at 4773 Mission St. features a front-facing mural of The Last Supper with abundant bread imagery and continues to fire its 90-year-old brick dutch ovens. The storefront closed abruptly three years ago and has remained boarded and spray-painted. Juana Nuno-Chavez helped run the bakery since the 1990s and managed the storefront with her son, Juan Ramirez, who died in his sleep at 32 and was slated to take over the business. Two years later her husband, then owner of the bakery, also died in his sleep. Nuno-Chavez navigated a complicated ownership transition, a lawsuit with Isaac Monroy, then later married him and jointly ran the bakery.
At 4773 Mission St. in the Excelsior, baguettes, bastones and loaves of ciabatta crowd together under the hands of Jesus and his 12 disciples, heaping in baskets that overflow to the corners of the biblical scene that is Royal Bakery's front-facing mural of The Last Supper. This rendition, if you can believe it, took some creative liberties with the bread.
Beneath the glutenous scene, Royal Bakery has never stopped firing up its 90 year-old brick dutch ovens. But three years ago, the storefront, where neighbors used to stop by every morning to grab a coffee and some pastries, abruptly closed. It's a tough tale - one that shows the struggle of running a family business. Juana Nuno-Chavez, who has helped run the bakery since the 1990s, used to manage the storefront with her son, Juan Ramirez.
Nuno-Chavez took over the business through a complicated transition. While her partner, Isaac Monroy, was set to retire by 2012 he selected his then-girlfriend, Nuno-Chavez, as the next owner of Royal Baking, according to Nuno-Chavez. Nuno-Chavez and her then-boyfriend, had worked together at the bakery for a while, and after the death of his first wife - started a relationship together. That was until, a lawsuit came to Nuno-Chavez upon ending her relationship with Monroy.
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