I own a baklava bakery in SF. The city’s AI boom has made life as a small-business owner more difficult.0

• bond-market, Business, Business / Artificial Intelligence, Business / Big Tech, Business / Companies, Business / Computers and Software, Business / Markets, Business / Social Media, business-idea, business-insider-today, business-strategy, Careers, CoECI News, E! Insider, Energy & Environment Newsletter, Finance, Food, Gaming News Roundup, Gear / Gear News and Events, Global, Global Precipitation, global warming, globalstar, HEALTH, Home, House, insider-picks, insider-picks-guides, insider-reviews, insider-reviews-2021, insider-today, job-market, Markets, Markets & Festivals, News, newsletter, Newsletters, Nexstar Media Wire News, People News, Personal Finance, personal-finance, Photovogue / Editorial / News, Politics / Politics News, Property / News, Reviews, reviews-rit-ads, san-francisco, Security / Security News, shop, Shop Beauty, small-business-insider
• September 4, 2026

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tolgay Karabulut, the 43-year-old founder of BaklavaStory, a baklava bakery in San Francisco. It has been edited for length and clarity. I’ve been running a baklava bakery, the thing I’m most passionate about, for the last five years. But the financial pressure I’m facing in San