Steins Beer Garden & Restaurant in Cupertino Closes its Doors

Steins Beer Garden & Restaurant in Cupertino announced last week that they were permanently closing their doors:

To our Cupertino supporters and loyal guests,

Steins Cupertino will be closing its doors this Monday, March 16th, 2020. We are extremely grateful to our amazing patrons for these past two and a half years and have loved being a part of this community.

Please join us one last time this weekend as we say goodbye; and as the community perseveres through this difficult period, we encourage everyone to go out and support your local small businesses.

Cheers,

From all of us at Steins Cupertino

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Here’s what founder Ted Kim had to say, in part, about the closure in a heartfelt post via his social media channels:

Man, so many thoughts and emotions to process…

After what’s felt like an impossibly long journey I’m closing down Steins Cupertino. I didn’t want to give up, even though I probably should have thrown in the towel a long time ago. It’s been an insane journey. Really really insane. Anyone who’s been in the industry understands. I threw everything at it, truly… probably beyond what I reasonably should have. But the thought of not doing everything I possibly could before letting down friends, family or myself wasn’t an option. I had been entrusted with an amazing staff and money from friends, employees who let other opportunities pass to jump on board my vision… and who believed in the trail I was blazing. I didn’t want to regret anything, or let those that entrusted their time, careers, and financial support think I didn’t throw the kitchen sink at it.

I could write forever about this but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who supported me and chose to journey with me. It didn’t end the way I had hoped… and it’s probably going to take a long time to process this failure but I promise I will and learn from the experience.

… I couldn’t be more proud of everyone here and the blood sweat and tears we all put in… the people who helped carry me on their backs and jumped in the trenches with me when I needed help… From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

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I remember how very long it seemed to take for Steins Cupertino to open. I would pass by the restaurant often and couldn’t wait for any news regarding an opening date. Finally, they opened in June 2017, and we visited shortly thereafter to check out the space and to celebrate the older kid’s birthday. The location was close enough to walk to.

Since then, I’ve had the privilege of writing about Steins Cupertino, including covering a number of their special, hosted events.

I, like many, will miss Steins Cupertino and thank Ted and his team for trying their best – beyond what I can imagine – to get the Cupertino location to work.

The original Steins location in Mountain View has plans to reopen but currently remains closed until further notice due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Ted has set up a GoFundMe campaign, Steins Family Fund, to help his staff of over 100 to get through these uncertain times.

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Pics below from our last visits to Steins Cupertino.

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