Two beloved Sunset District staples — You See Sushi and Yumma's — are shutting their doors as their owners hang up their aprons and head into retirement. And while we're happy for anyone who gets to stop working, the losses sting.

These aren't pandemic casualties. They're not victims of some greedy landlord jacking up rent (though that's a whole other column). These are small business owners who spent decades feeding their neighborhood, building the kind of places that make the Sunset feel like the Sunset, and they're simply done. They earned it.

But here's what should worry you: who's replacing them?

San Francisco's regulatory environment is one of the most hostile in the country for small business owners. Opening a restaurant in this city means navigating a Kafkaesque maze of permits, inspections, fees, and approvals that can take months — sometimes years — before you serve your first plate. The cost of compliance alone is enough to scare away the next generation of independent restaurateurs who might otherwise jump at the chance to take over a beloved corner spot.

Every time a mom-and-pop closes in the Sunset, the neighborhood holds its breath. Will the space sit vacant for 18 months while permits gather dust at City Hall? Will it become another boba chain? Or will some ambitious cook with a dream actually get a fair shot at building something?

The city loves to talk about "supporting small businesses." There are task forces, initiatives, and glossy press releases. But the reality on the ground is that San Francisco makes it extraordinarily expensive and painfully slow to open and operate a small restaurant. That's not support — that's suffocation with extra steps.

We wish the retiring owners of You See Sushi and Yumma's nothing but the best. They've more than earned their rest. But if San Francisco doesn't get serious about cutting red tape for the next wave of entrepreneurs, the Sunset's culinary character will slowly fade into a patchwork of empty storefronts and corporate chains.

And nobody moved to the Sunset for that.