Berkeley’s Much Loved Café Fanny to Rise Again, Kinda

Café Fanny, Alice Waters’ much-loved Berkeley cafe named after her daughter, closed in 2012, but its granola lived on as a packaged product. When the cafe closed (and became what is now Bartavelle), Cassandra Chen took over the rights and continued to produce the granola from a commercial kitchen in Berkeley. Now Chen has found a home on University Ave. for both production and a retail space and cafe.

The new cafe, which is not affiliated with Waters, will sell Chen’s granola by bowl, plus coffee and other treats from Chen’s company, CC Made. It’ll occupy the space abandoned by Flour & Co. in 2016, which is already set up for bakery and confectionary production.

It’s a silver lining for Chen, whose production space was damaged by fire this summer. When the space opens, it’ll operate like a typical cafe with wifi, and grow into a larger menu over time. According to Berkeleyside, Chen also plans to use the retail operation to test new flavors for her line of confections, like new flavors of jams and marshmallows.

After a reconfiguration of the kitchen and retail space, Chen is planning for a November opening. In the meantime, Cafe Fanny granola is still available in many local shops including Market Hall and Safeway. Stay tuned for more.

• Café Fanny to Open in Berkeley With Granola Bowls and Coffee [Berkeleyside]