Wednesday, March 18, 2026
To the City of San Jose,
There is no Japantown without Gordon Biersch. This may sound like an exaggeration, but it is not — Japantown depends on silent partners who give their time, money, and resources without recognition. We are fortunate Gordon Biersch calls San Jose and Japantown home.
We now send a notably desperate plea for help.
Without action from the City of San Jose, Gordon Biersch's short-term future is in peril.
Despite being voted San Jose’s Best Farmer’s Market last year, the Japantown Farmer’s Market will close permanently — ending a 30-year tradition that supports 80 rotating vendors, welcomes 29,000 annual attendees, and supports 15 minority-owned, family-run farms. This event cannot logistically exist anywhere else in Japantown.
Our main festivals — Nikkei Matsuri and Obon (which placed second for Best Festival in San Jose) — will lose their largest source of in-kind support. Dan donates over $50,000 annually in wholesale-value beer to local nonprofits, generating more than $130,000 in gross profit for Japantown festivals alone.
The loss of this support would be devastating, not only to Japantown but to the broader South Bay nonprofit ecosystem.
2025 marked a banner year for Gordon Biersch — its first net-positive year in over a decade. The business employs 56 workers, paying over $5.2 million in wages, taxes, and benefits annually, of which $3.4 million is in blue-collar and operational roles. It has invested more than $8 million in equipment over the past five years, including $2 million just last year.
Gordon Biersch is requesting a year's credit on their City of San Jose wastewater fees. Should they go out of business, the City would not recover those fees anyway, and the burden for the wastewater treatment improvements would fall on the city's taxpayers.
Japantown does not rely on the City, but the City of San Jose relies on Japantown. Start counting the losses: one of San Jose's last manufacturers, 50+ jobs, financial support to our cultural district and organizations, event space, community programming...this is only the start.
There is no harsher punishment to inflict on our historic district than to allow Gordon Biersch to fail.
On The Daily Show, Mayor Mahan said, “I think we’ve got to ask our government to do better before we ask people to give more.”
We beg of you, our electeds, to show us that immediacy and grace. Please work with Gordon Biersch to ensure it can continue operating in San Jose.
Regards,
The Japantown Business Association
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Other nonprofits supported by Gordon Biersch: Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley, Challenged Athletes Foundation, Jacob's Heart (Children's Cancer Support), Latinx Art Now!/MACLA, LEMO Foundation, Palo Alto Players Theater, The Rotary Club, Silicon Valley Pride, SJ Jazz, The Society of Heart's Delight, St. Christopher's Elementary, Willow Glen Elementary, Women's Club of Campbell.