Popular Berkeley-based bakery Third Culture has shuttered two of its Colorado locations, citing faltering sales and difficulties with employees in addition to “racist behavior” from its customers during the pandemic, co-founder Wenter Shyu told the Denver Post last month.
Shyu moved to Colorado with husband and chef Sam Butarbutar in Jan. 2020, and the couple opened their mochi empire’s first out-of-state location in Aurora the following month. On their first day in business, Shyu said there was a line with hundreds of people winding down the block, and they opened a second store in Denver’s River North Art District last summer.
Third Culture’s success was short-lived, however, as sales fluctuated throughout the pandemic and the supply chain shortage made it difficult for the bakery to stock ingredients such as rice flour and coconut milk, which are shipped from California. Passion fruit sourced from Hawaii was also difficult to come by, forcing Third Culture to take beverages infused with the fruit off the menu and consider getting rid of its most popular mochi doughnut flavor altogether, Eater reported last September.
Shyu also voiced concerns to SFGATE last year that the business had to survive on takeout orders in order to keep up with operational expenses.
“It was really terrifying … we thought we had the possibility of losing the bakery,” Shyu said at the time.
But other challenges were interpersonal.
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