By Elena Kadvany
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I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community.
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Redwood City staple Yumi Yogurt will close this Sunday, Sept. 15, after nearly four decades of business.
Owner Surena Yavari said Tuesday that the lease for the 947 El Camino Real frozen yogurt shop is expiring, and to renew would require an extensive renovation of the aging building that he can't afford. His business partner and uncle also died a year ago and it has been difficult to continue the business without him, Yavari said.
A rent increase did not contribute to the closure, he said.
An array of fro-yo at Yumi Yogurt Redwood City. Image via Facebook/Yumi Yogurt.
Redwood City is the original Yumi Yogurt location, opened in April 1984. Locations followed in San Mateo and Santa Clara, which remain open.
"It was a very, very good ride," Yavari said. "Thirty-five years is a long time."
Longtime customers and former employees shared decades of memories in response to a Facebook post announcing the closure.
"This is beyond sad," Adrienne Duff wrote. "I now live in San Francisco but whenever I'm down visiting my sister in RWC, I stop by Yumi Yogurt. BEST FRO YO EVER!!!!"
