Bridgeport Bakery in Chicago closing — again — due to union pension fund lawsuit, owner says
A bakery opened in 1941 on the South Side of Chicago, which survived a world war and pandemic through three family owners, will close Sunday for the foreseeable future.
“I am being sued by a bakery pension fund right now,” said Bridgeport Bakery 2.0 owner Can Lao. He officially reopened the business in February 2020 after previous longtime owner Ron Pavelka closed the shop in October 2019.
“When I opened, there was nobody in my bakery in a union,” Lao said. “I had no concept about a bakery union in a small shop.”
The Bakery and Confectionery Union and Industry International Pension Fund originally sued Pavelka in 2017 for $258,720 plus interest, alleging he failed to pay the bakery’s required contributions to the labor organization, according to federal court documents.
“I’ve been dealing with this since November 2020,” Lao said.
The Chinese American immigrant has continued working as a pharmacist while running the traditional Polish American bakery. Perhaps best-known for its daily bacon buns, historically Bridgeport Bakery sells upward of 25,000 paczki for the Fat Tuesday holiday.
“We struggled through the pandemic, and we hope the pandemic is almost over, but this lawsuit is just driving me crazy,” Lao told the Tribune. “How can I handle hundreds of thousands of dollars that I may need to pay?”
His attorneys told him that he cannot discuss specifics about the case, which remains unresolved, he said.
An attorney representing The Bakery and Confectionery Union and Industry International Pension Fund did not immediately respond to the Tribune’s request for comment Tuesday.
“I wanted to close on Oct. 1, but because this bakery was closed Oct. 31, 2019, I wanted to make it to the anniversary and close on the same day,” said Lao.
Meanwhile he and wife, Mei Ye, are baking. His parents, other family and two employees are helping to run the shop, he said.
Bridgeport Bakery 2.0 will open on Halloween at 5 a.m. and close at 3 p.m. They’ll likely sell out early, as they did Tuesday when Lao first made the closure announcement on his business Facebook page. He’s considering creating a GoFundMe.
“I feel ashamed to ask for money,” Lao said. “Even though the government issued a lot of assistance to small businesses, I’m not qualified, because the No. 1 thing they asked for was 2019 data, which I don’t have.”
Bridgeport Bakery 2.0 did receive $10,100 in a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan that was approved in January 2020 and forgiven in December, according to ProPublica’s tracking site.
“I hope the case will be dismissed,” Lao said. “Then I will pay off all my debt, pay for my attorney’s fees I have already, and then restructure myself to reopen the bakery.”
Bridgeport Bakery 2.0, 2907 S. Archer Ave., 773-523-1121, bridgeportbakerychicago.com
Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here.
