SAN FRANCISCO—Yvonne’s Southern Sweets, owned by Yvonne Hines for the last 19 years, in the same location of 5128 3rd Street in Bayview-Hunters Point District, had been undergoing a lot of changes in 2025.
Known for its seven-up cake, peach cobbler and butter pecan cookies and Mayor Daniel Lurie’s favorite sugar cookies, which came from her Texas-bred grandparents.
In January 2025, Yvonne Hines’ modest bakery of 400 square feet was damaged due to a fire that burned down a business next door to hers.
On Saturday, May 31, 2025, a native of Bayview-Hunters Point, Hines had a soft reopening of her bakery, where she sold out everything, including sugar cookies to Mayor Lurie. But while dropping off her daughter at college in June 2025, she received bad news of vandalism to her bakery’s front window. Contractors quoted repairs at $6,000, which does not include installation of the roll-up door.
Since the bakery was closed that day, she did not have her cash in the bakery. She just had the ingredients at that time.
Due to Hines’ daughter encouraging her, she set up a GoFundMe page that raised more than $10,000 in two months. She is grateful for San Francisco, her landlord, the African American police group, Officers for Justice and other nonprofits for getting her business running again.
Most especially she is thankful for SF New Deal, a nonprofit that helps small businesses prosper in San Francisco. She started working with them in 2024 to get new equipment for her bakery through the SFShines grant.
SF New Deal dealt with contractors in the wake of the vandalism through a business consultant, Paul Barrera. He worked on paperwork to receive a San Francisco vandalism grant for small businesses.
Presently, Yvonne’s Southern Sweets will open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 3 pm.
