Jim’s, Mission diner, will keep cooking under nonprofit ownership 

Fear not, we won’t be missing the beloved green salsa at Jim’s Restaurant for some time — breakfast is here to stay. 

Mission Local has learned that the Mission Language and Vocational School will take over neighborhood mainstay Jim’s, which invited customers in today for its last day in business under current ownership. This afternoon, a line was seen reaching the corner of the building at 20th and Mission streets, and the diner had to take a waitlist for people to get in. 

Mission Language and Vocational School, a nonprofit that offers workforce development and small business supportive services, will staff the restaurant with graduates from its catering program and culinary school.  The nonprofit will keep on Beto, the longtime cook. The owners, husband and wife Kim Ok Un and Kim Jung Nyun, are retiring. 

MLVS is expected to take over the restaurant on Jan. 6, 2025.

Tracy Brown-Gallardo, board chair of MLVS, said the whole plan started when Kim, the diner’s owner of 32 years, told Brown-Gallardo, a long-time friend, that she planned to retire, and lamented leaving behind her customers. 

“She said it as a joke, she’s like, ‘You love Jim’s, you take over the restaurant,’” said Brown-Gallardo, who initially laughed off the suggestion. 

Then she thought about it some more: “Of course I’m like, ‘Oh my God, you can’t sell it to someone else who’s not going to have this breakfast!’” 

Brown-Gallardo sees the deal as a continuation of the diner and their friendship.

“We’ve been friends for 32 years, she served my mother, me, my daughter, and her daughter,” said Brown-Gallardo. She said they became close enough that Kim attended her daughter’s quinceañera. Over the years, she estimated she has sat in a chair at Jim’s 1,500 times, enjoying the No. 8 omelette or the best French toast in town. 

The plan to transfer ownership to MLVS has been in the works since the start of the year, and is finally on the horizon for next month. Mission Local reported yesterday that Jim’s owners were planning to step down, but Kim did not confirm the coming changes at the time. 

“My focus was on preserving the sense of community that Jim’s has always offered,” said Kim in a statement on Saturday. “My customers became my friends and I wanted to be sure to pick someone that would continue to create the community of Jim’s clients.”

The project is MLVS’s first brick-and-mortar business venture, Brown-Gallardo said. The organization will invest the proceeds from the restaurant into hiring its culinary school graduates, who have already been shadowing the staff at the restaurant. Ultimately the restaurant will expand to dinner service and Sunday meals. It will be an incubator space for pop-ups. 

The restaurant will also serve MLVS’s catered items, which span international cuisine, from chicken stews, to fajitas and empanadas, to BBQ chicken.