Filipino-American Bay Area restaurants among those forced to close during the APEC Summit

Photo by Ella Lambio

San Francisco is already feeling the impact of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit being held this year from Nov. 11 to 14 at the Moscone Center.

Dubbed the “Super Bowl of World Economies,” the summit attended by more than 20 international leaders from member economies spells street closures, transit impacts, and multiple protests.

Among those affected are Bay Area businesses like acclaimed Filipino restaurant Abacá.

Abacá announced the cancellation of its collaboration dinner with contemporary patisserie Tarts de Feybesse co-owned by fellow Filipino-American chef Monique Feybesse on Nov. 12.

Planned for Nov. 15, “Abacá and Friends: Monique Feybesse” was supposed to serve a special menu crafted by Feybesse and Abacá’s chef Francis Ang. It features dishes like pakbet ratatouille croquette and humba pithiviers.

The special Tarts De Feybesse X Abacá collab menu for the canceled dinner.

Abacá also stated that they will be closing for two days during the APEC Summit. “After much thought, we have sadly decided to cancel this week’s collaboration dinner with the very talented chef Monique Feybesse of Tarts de Feybesse. In addition to the cancellation, we will be closed both Wednesday [Nov. 15] and Thursday [Nov. 16].”

“With San Francisco hosting APEC, we had hoped that this would bring a much-needed boost to small businesses in the city, but unfortunately, we are already seeing a decline in business for next week with many of our regular customers canceling reservations due to traffic concerns,” the statement continues.

“Sadly, we are not the only ones already feeling the effects of APEC, many of our friends’ restaurants are seeing a decline in business for next week as well.”

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Abacá rallied for more people to join in supporting restaurants and other small businesses in San Francisco as they try to support their staff and push forward over the coming week.

Meanwhile, Filipino-American labor activists and immigrants’ rights advocates are among the attendees of Bay Area protests opposing the APEC Summit, calling for economic and environmental change, and demanding justice for Palestinian war crime victims.

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The APEC Summit hosts 21 member economies from the Asia-Pacific region, G10 leaders such as President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as San Francisco tech and business moguls.