I own a baklava bakery in San Francisco. Life as a small business owner in a city flush with AI money has been hard.

Business Insider | 04-09-2026 09:24am |

Tolgay Karabulut, a 43-year-old Turkish immigrant, owns BaklavaStory, a baklava bakery in San Francisco. Since opening in 2022, he has worked 12-hour days, six days a week, to keep the business running. The city's AI boom has driven up rent and other costs, making it financially challenging to sustain the bakery. Karabulut expressed uncertainty about the long-term viability of his business under these conditions.

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