Marking 3rd anniversary, Castro chocolatier Kokak hosts Pink Saturday drag brunch

by Matthew S. Bajko

As it marks this month its third anniversary in business at 3901 18th Street in San Francisco’s Castro LGBTQ neighborhood, Kokak Chocolates is shaking up its menu items and eying expansion into breakfast and lunch options. The shop is also hosting a special drag brunch next weekend featuring its Filipino-inspired chocolates.

As she worked to open her first brick-and-mortar shop in 2020, chocolatier Carol Gancia was also fighting endometrial cancer, which begins in the uterus. Diagnosed the year prior, Gancia began her chemotherapy in the fall of 2019 and finished her treatments just as she welcomed her first customers to the former bread shop she had taken over across the street from the popular Parisian-themed Le Marais Bakery at the intersection of 18th and Sanchez streets.

“I feel like the neighborhood still doesn’t know about us,” said Gancia, 53, who told the Bay Area Reporter she feels like it is more the shop’s second anniversary this year due to having opened in the midst of the COVID outbreak.

“We lost a whole year in 2020 because of the pandemic.”

Gancia, now in remission from her cancer, is switching things up at her shop. She has pared down the 50 truffle flavors she used to offer to a more manageable five to 20 flavors at most.

“We streamlined the chocolate product line and kept the most popular recipes,” said Gancia, who identifies as queer and first began making chocolates for sale in 2017.

From page 4 continued. “The police car and handcuffs used on our posters were meant to symbolize ‘criminalization’ and the devastating impacts of the war on drugs in general. We do not believe, as Supervisor Dorsey has stated, that the posters could inadvertently ‘glamorize deadly drug use and further encourage mounting drug-related lawlessness.’ We also take issue with the claim that the posters will ‘endanger law enforcement officers and drug users.’”

Law enforcement crackdown

When asked if it’s possible the messaging on the poster would encour-

From page 11

Mukunda Studio and Tendwell Collective will hold their third seasonal well-being fair timed with Pride Month Sunday, June 18, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the studio, 1250 Folsom Street, second floor, in San Francisco.

According to a news release, there will be eight in-person presenters sharing information and offering minisessions to attendees. The fair will also be livestreamed. A plant-based lunch and beverages will be provided for the in-person event.

Makunda Studio is a gay, Asianmixed race-owned yoga and wellbeing facility that Marc Morozumi opened in March 2020, just as the COVID lockdown commenced. As a result, classes and private sessions shifted online. Since then, the studio opened

“It was pretty insane. Other chocolatiers told me I was crazy.”

Kokak is the Filipino word for “ribbit” or a frog’s croak. Gancia’s truffles are inspired by the flavors and fauna of her home country of the Philippines, where she was a successful documentarian and broadcast journalist in Manila. Gancia immigrated to the Bay Area in 2004 because her former partner wanted to move to the U.S. She established a video production company, Ripplemakers Inc., and worked as a producer on several food-based shows, such as KQED’s “Check Please! Bay Area” program that reviews local restaurants. Gancia continues to operate the company as its executive director while she also runs Kokak.

After a planned second location in San Francisco’s Japantown fell through last year due to zoning issues, Gancia told the B.A.R. she is age people who are in need of harm reduction services to seek out such programs, Dorsey told the B.A.R. that it’s nonetheless “irresponsible” and “potentially dangerous” to equate police with death.

The city has been starting to enforce public intoxication laws in recent weeks and, as of June 8, at least 58 people were arrested on either public intoxication or drug possession charges.

Six California Highway Patrol officers were assigned to the Tenderloin by Newsom; later, the sheriff’s department announced it was deploying 130 deputies for six months, a move Dorsey stated he supported.

“We must send a clear message that our communities won’t tolerate the destructive influence of drugs and its doors and offers a hybrid experience, with simultaneous in-person and online classes.

Tendwell Collective is a San Francisco-based wellness platform that connects values-aligned studio partners and facilitators with individuals and organizations overlooked by the mainstream wellness industry, the release stated.

The cost for the well-being fair is sliding scale $108-$144. To register or for more information, go to mukundastudio.com/well-being-fair.

Gay SF supes hold Pride reception

The three gay members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will hold a Pride at City Hall reception Thursday, June 15, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Room 278 at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place.

The event, hosted by Supervisors Rafael Mandelman (District 8), Matt Dorsey (D6), and Joel Engardio (D4), still interested in expanding at some point. During an interview last month at the Castro storefront, she said the rash of layoffs earlier this year at local tech companies had resulted in a drop off of business, with foot traffic noticeably down during weekdays.

“Last year, we were busier than this year,” said Gancia, whose current lease runs through 2027.

To drum up business, she has added pastries and cookies to the menu, such as a chocolate chip cookie with Ecuador heirloom chocolate ($5) and a classic brownie ($5). The new items, including a chocolate cupcake with almond crumbs ($5), debuted in April.

“There is no frosting. I wanted to go back to the basics,” explained Gancia. “It is part of my simplification process.”

This fall she hopes to add breakfast items to the menu, such as a Japanese egg sandwich, porridge, and rice cake pancakes. Gancia is also open-air drug scenes. That’s why I’m committed to working with the sheriff’s department to increase enforcement efforts in the hardest-hit neighborhoods,” Dorsey stated in a June 8 news release. “Together, we will create an environment where families can feel safe, where children can thrive, and where our city can flourish once again.”

McCoy differs with Dorsey on this issue, too, citing it in his defense of the AIDS foundation’s messaging.

“In fact, the city’s newly announced drug enforcement program is once again prioritizing a failed carceral approach over an evidence-based public health approach, targeting people who use drugs – and we know policing, through decades of research, will will also include an art showcase to celebrate young LGBTQ artists. There will be refreshments.

To RSVP, go to bit.ly/cityhallpride

Summer solstice celebration

Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture and its resident partners will hold the second annual Summer Solstice Celebration and Art Walk Wednesday, June 21, from 5 to 9 p.m. at 2 Marina Boulevard in San Francisco. The event marks the first day of summer and the longest day of the year.

The event, which is free and open to the public with registration, features a variety of exhibitions, performances, artist and curator talks, and artmaking activities presented by FMCAC and its partners.

“We are excited to expand on last year’s full-house summer solstice program to showcase our resident organizations’ incredible art and cultural programming,” stated Frank Smigiel, FMCAC director of arts programming planning more lunch offerings, like empanadas based on the ones her grandma would make for her when she was a child.

The new food options will all have “an Asian feel” to them, said Gancia, who has been testing out recipes with her friends as she fine-tunes them.

But first she needs to find an office she can rent in order to move the shipping side of her business, which accounts for 50% of her sales, out of the storefront so the space taken up for packing and addressing boxes can instead be used for customer seating.

“The idea is to grow the retail presence,” said Gancia, who expects to be able to accommodate up to 20 people at a time inside the store.

“I want to transition to being a cafe with a retail component.”

Pride event

For Pink Saturday on June 24, she is hosting two seatings of the pricefixed drag brunch ($120 per person) featuring Asian and Pacific Islander performers. Kiki Krunch will serve as host, with performances expected most certainly increase the number of fatal overdose deaths on our streets,” McCoy said.

To back up that assertion, McCoy cited a 2023 study out of Marion County, Indiana, published in the American Journal of Public Health, which found that “supply-side enforcement interventions and drug policies should be further explored to determine whether they exacerbate an ongoing overdose epidemic and negatively affect the nation’s life expectancy.”

When asked if even supervised drug use would be enabling drug users in a potentially life-threatening addiction – the city hit a new record for accidental overdose deaths this year: 268 through April, which is 72 higher and partnerships. “For visitors, this is a fantastic opportunity to sample several flavors of San Francisco’s arts and culture scene in one place, with a side of incredible bay and bridge views.”

For more information and to sign up, go to fortmason.org.

Bayard Rustin Coalition

Pride reception

The Bayard Rustin Coalition will hold a Pride reception Friday, June 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. at ULA Restaurant, 450 Post Street in San Francisco.

A flyer states that attendees will enjoy African diaspora art, music, and food and beverages. The San Francisco Pride parade community grand marshals will be honored, along with Black community leaders. This year’s Pride grand marshals include Dr. Nas Mohamed, a Qatari physician and LGBTQ activist; Honey Mahogany, a trans nonbinary person who is chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party and district director for Assemblymember

by Xtina Agitera, Ehra Amaya, Lady P Galore, and Nutasha Quintine

“Get ready to enjoy a one-of-akind dining experience that combines our Filipino-inspired brunch menu, live drag performances, and a whole lot of sass,” promises the store. It is one way Gancia is aiming to boost attention, and sales, for Kokak.

“The retail business is not an easy business. Even if you have a lot of business experience, each business industry is different. You have to crack the code,” said Gancia.

Kokak is open 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and open from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday to Sunday.

To book a seating for the drag brunch, or order Kokak’s chocolates and special Pride-themed truffle boxes online for delivery, visit its website at https://www.kokakchocolates.com/. t than in 2022 – Dorsey stated he is a “strong believer in harm reduction.”

Got a tip on LGBTQ business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or e-mail m.bajko@ ebar.com.

“Especially in light of the potent lethality of drugs like fentanyl that are flooding street-level drug markets, I think harm reduction strategies can save lives and provide an entry point to services to support people’s journey in recovery free from substance use,” Dorsey stated.

He also had a word for those fed up with public drug sales and use.

“I think Wellness Hubs reflect everything our harm-reduction strategies should be – which means to reduce harms to the individuals, and also reducing harms to the community by getting public drug use and antisocial behavior off of neighborhood streets,” he stated. t

Matt Haney (D-San Francisco); Laura Lala-Chávez, a nonbinary person who is executive director of LYRIC, the queer youth organization; Breonna McCree, a trans health care advocate and educator; and Paul Aguilar, a gay longtime HIV survivor and AIDS advocate.

Rustin, the coalition’s namesake, was a gay Black civil rights leader who was a confidante of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Rustin, who died in 1987, was posthumously pardoned by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020 for a 1953 arrest in Pasadena, California, on vagrancy charges that led to jail time and inclusion on the sex offender registry, as the B.A.R. previously reported. The upcoming reception is co-hosted by Soul of Pride. All are welcome. To RSVP, contact 415-690-8572

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