Reem’s California will reopen this fall in Oakland, launching a new flagship bakery in Jack London Square.
Reem’s Fruitvale restaurant closed in 2020. This marks the bakery’s return.
The new model will incorporate a grab-and-go café at the front and a production kitchen in the back, alongside an innovative worker-owner co-op structure.
The Arab bakery, known for its man’oushe flatbreads and community-centered hospitality, plans for this space to lay the foundation for wholesale and catering, helping to scale the business, and support more workers.
“This is the first phase of what we’re calling our flagship model,” said co-owner Zaynah Hindi. “We’ll be opening up in stages, starting with the café and production, then growing into wholesale.”
A homecoming for a beloved restaurant
For Reem’s founders Reem Assil and co-founder Zaynah Hindi, the return marks a homecoming. They opened the original Fruitvale location from a farmer’s market stand with community support through a Kickstarter campaign.
“Oakland is a ride-or-die space,” Hindi said. “We’re looking forward to being a part of the fabric of those communities that give us strength and are so resilient.”
The new spot will resemble the San Francisco Ferry Building kiosk more than the former sit-down restaurant. Patrons can grab freshly made man’oushe, sourdough Arabic bread, and other baked goods. There will be limited indoor seating, with outdoor seating available at the new location and along the Jack London Waterfront.
The space, formerly Niaat Bakery, once served as Reem’s production kitchen — making the move a full-circle moment, Khandbhai said.
Patrons will be able to see the baking process through the large street-facing windows.
“We really wanted people to witness the interactive magic of bread being baked,” Hindi said. “You’ll see tables of bakers spooling dough and shaping pastries.”
A New Model for the Industry
The Jack London Square location will be a worker co-op from the start. This model aims to give employees a voice and a stake in the business’s success, according to Hindi. It’s a goal Reem’s has worked toward for years.
The pandemic exposed inequities in the restaurant industry, Hindi said.
“Those who have the most to lose and the most to gain from the industry should be brought from the margins to the center through worker ownership,” she said.
The co-op offers a chance for employees to build generational wealth. The model also creates a more resilient business, as seen in Spain where worker co-ops fared better during the pandemic.
“Having everything on the shoulders of just one person, you’re involving multiple people in the process of decision making,” Hindi said. “It makes it more resilient in the face of things like burnout.”
Community Support Fuels the Journey
To support the new flagship bakery and worker-owner model, the public can invest in Reem’s through WeFunder. The campaign has already raised over a quarter of its $250,000 goal, with over $76,000 raised to date.
“The love was just pouring in to reaffirm that our community is still out there,” Hindi said.
The campaign allows non-accredited investors to support the business. “I think it’s a really cool opportunity for folks who are not venture capitalists,” Hindi said.
Despite the anxieties that come with being a visibly Arab-owned business, Hindi feels the community support is unwavering. When protesters showed up at the Fruitvale location, the community mobilized to protect the bakery and its workers.
“Our community support is so resounding that it outweighs any of those fears and anxieties that we do have,” she said. “We do seem to have such a strong and faithful community backing that it gives us the confidence to take big moves and to take big risks.”
Reem’s offers more than just food
From its beginnings, Reem’s has been more than a bakery. Hindi, whose own background is in peace and conflict studies and Middle Eastern studies, sees food as a lens for building community. Reem’s was inspired by Arab street corner bakeries, which served as a place of genuine exchange, providing warmth in the face of political and economic turmoil.
Assil, a Palestinian-Syrian chef, started the business to reclaim the word Arab in the U.S. after 9/11. The bakery uses food to start deeper conversations.
“As Palestinians living in the diaspora, we’re cultural carriers. It’s a part of our role — to be able to share that with people as we’re actively being erased to say, ‘This is who we are. This is what we do. We’re not going to stop doing it.’”
Zaynah Hindi
“Being unapologetically Arab, as we call it from the get-go, has been a really important part,” Hindi said.
The new location will continue this tradition of being an anchor space for the community. The bakery plans to feature a new mural from a local community artist. This builds on the legacy of its Fruitvale location, which featured a mural of Palestinian activist Rasmea Aoudeh.
“As Palestinians living in the diaspora, we’re cultural carriers,” Hindi said. “It’s a part of our role — to be able to share that with people as we’re actively being erased to say, ‘This is who we are. This is what we do. We’re not going to stop doing it.’”
Reem’s aims to open this fall.
For new customers, Hindi suggests coming with a friend to share a classic man’oushe and a Pali Kali, along with a cardamom latte and one of their signature halawa cookies.
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