Bub and Grandma's bakery closes after employee tests positive for COVID-19

Garrett Snyder
·1 min read
Baguettes and loaves of bread from Bub and Grandma's Bread, at Smorgasburg L.A.
Baguettes and fresh loaves from Bub and Grandma's Bread, at Smorgasburg L.A. (Amy Scattergood / Los Angeles Times )

Bub and Grandma’s, a popular bread bakery and a supplier for dozens of L.A. restaurants, announced Monday that one of its bakers had tested positive for COVID-19 and that it had shut down operations immediately.

“We suggest that if you bought bread from one of our retailers today, you toss it,” owner Andy Kadin wrote in a post on Instagram. “We’ll take care of you when we open back up.”

According to health experts, there is currently no evidence that the novel coronavirus can be spread through food or food packaging.

The Silver Lake bakery — which provides bread for restaurants such as Sqirl, Wax Paper, Kato and Pasjoli — is the latest food business that has seen a member of its staff test positive for COVID-19 as reopenings continue across the state.

Bakery chain Nothing Bundt Cakes closed locations in Pasadena and Rosemead after employees tested positive at those stores last week; Melrose Italian restaurant Osteria La Buca and Tortas Ahogadas Chago in Montebello also closed after positive tests among workers. Those businesses have yet to reopen.

In Orange County, Javier’s closed temporarily last week after a staff member tested positive, officials said; the Newport Beach restaurant said it planned to reopen July 1.

Bub and Grandma’s announced it would test all of its employees immediately and undergo “seriously intense sanitizing and deep cleaning” before reopening for business.

“We did everything right over the last four months and it still wriggled its way into our building,” Kadin wrote. “So please, take COVID seriously. It is not over. We never relented and this still happened.”